If past patterns hold true, Utah students will determine Utah's choice in the presidential race, the next Utah governor and winners in three congressional races nearly one week before the election Nov. 5.
On Wednesday, more than 130,000 students will cast ballots for the candidates of their choice in the three races as part of a statewide mock election sponsored by the Utah State Office of Education.Nearly 300 schools from St. George to Cache Valley will call in election results to statewide headquarters in the Deseret News newsroom, where 20 students from Olympus High School's American Institutions class will record and compile the data.
Results of the student election, conducted Oct. 30, will be broadcast on the Cable News Network (CNN) that evening.
Organizers hope the exercise, done in conjunction with a nationwide mock election, will boost interest in voting, candidates and issues on the minds of all Utah voters. Registered classrooms have received curriculum resources, mock ballots and procedures for implementing the Student Mock Election.
The event is endorsed by The Utah
League of Women Voters, the Deseret News Newspaper in Education Program, Salt Lake County Clerk's Office, the state Lieutenant Governor's Office and U.S. political parties.
On average, registered Utah voters do turn out in greater numbers than voters in other states. While 55.1 percent of voting-age residents in the United States participated in the 1992 presidential election, the Utah turnout was 63.6 percent.
But nationwide, research shows young people aren't voting, LaWanna Shurtliff, state coordinator for the mock election, said.
"This exercise is to help educate our young people to the importance of being a voter."
The average 18-year-old has a variety of misperceptions about the way in which Americans formally register their opinion on election days, said Shurtliff, who works for the Utah League of Women Voters.
Quite a few students think they have to pay to vote. Others believe their vote doesn't count. Many don't know how to register, she said. "We want to make them more comfortable with the process.
Some students may parrot their parents' views, she said. "For older students, it may be the opposite. They may be establishing their independence."
Sen. Orrin Hatch called the mock election "the largest violence prevention project ever" and explained that democracy is a means of nonviolent resolution of conflict.
"The most powerful way we have to express ourselves is at the voting booth," said Joe Spendlove, a teacher at Olympus High School and social studies specialist for the Granite School District.
Students have learned about the election process in school. Wednesday's election allows them to take this knowledge out of textbooks and into practice.
If they prepare for the exercise, Spendlove hopes students will learn about issues as well as candidates.
In addition, students will identify the issue they believe deserves the most attention from officials; the economy and job creation, fighting crime and violence, protecting the environment or providing health care. Young voters can choose one.
In a third section of the ballot, students choose what they think is the best solution for a variety of social problems.
Sherrie Swensen, Salt Lake County clerk, helped train teachers on how to carry out the mock election.