Pictured encouraging students to vote are front row (L-r):Jessica Reid, Behren Bass; back row: Maggie Partridge, Uncle Sam aka Mrs. Christie Bryan, and Jordan Ivey Students and teachers at Lincoln County Middle School conducted a mock election on Monday, October 27. Students used a state-of-the art online voting system as they participated in a mock election program sponsored by the Youth Leadership Initiative (YLI), a national civic education program based at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Millions of students were expected to vote nationwide during the twoweek voting period from October 20- October 30. The YLI Mock Election is the largest secure, student-only online mock election in the nation.

The LCMS Student Council sponsored the mock election along with middle school social studies teachers Christie Bryan, Pam Glaze-Norman, and Leigh Aycock. Class activities were held in all of the social studies classes so that the students could learn about the election process. Students were asked to show their school identification cards before being allowed to vote just like Georgia voters must show proper identification before voting.

"Students need to know why voting is important and how it impacts their local community as well as their state and the nation," said Christie Bryan, eighth grade Georgia History teacher and student council sponsor. "Being a part of the Youth Leadership Initiative Mock Election is an excellent way to get students interested and excited about the voting process. They need to realize at a young age that civic engagement includes activities such as community service, but it also includes participating in the voting process."

A national research study conducted by University of Virginia Center for Politics Director Larry J. Sabato and Chief of Staff Ken Stroupe found conclusively that that the instructional components of the Youth Leadership Initiative can have a positive impact on students, and Stroupe found that "students in classes where teachers used the YLI Mock Election and the related lesson plans reported a higher tendency towards future political participation."

Indeed, in 2008 youth voter registration totals are reaching high-water marks in dozens of states across the country compared with recent election cycles.

"As young people have become engaged in the political process through the classroom and community service, we are seeing those experiences translate to a heightened sense of interest and excitement in this year's election," added Sabato.

National and statewide results of the YLI Mock Election will be available the morning of Friday, October 31, 2008 on YLI's website at www.youthleadership.net. In their mock election, LCMS students also demonstrated their choices for county sheriff, judge, and county commissioner.

Two hundred and forty-eight LCMS students cast votes. Some students chose not to cast votes in all of the elections. The number of total votes cast for sheriff were 248; commission chairperson - 233; county judge - 240; US House of Representative - 223; US Senator - 224; US President - 248.

"I think it is interesting that the two elections that all students chose to participate in were the elections for president and for sheriff. Locally and nationally, those are the ones that seem most important to everyone," stated Bryan.

The results of LCMS Mock Election will be published in next week's edition of The Lincoln Journal.