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Mock Election: Building on Success
Election 1998 was one of change for the California Parent/Student Mock Election Project. To keep up with the times, we enlisted the help of the University of California at Davis's Political Science Department. Interns Mike Montesano and Jannette Girod, under the tutelage of Dr. Geoffrey Wandesford-Smith, designed a web site for the project which provided the capability to register and to vote on-line, and all the curriculum material from the National Parent/Student Mock Election Project which teachers could download for classroom use. As with anything new, we were constantly attempting to fix bugs right up until election day. Fortunately the majority of participants were successful in their attempts to utilize the new system. We are currently reviewing all aspects of the Mock Election project with the Secretary of State's office, UC Davis, local leagues and school coordinators to develop a successful, fail-safe and exciting project for the year 2000. Let us hear your experiences and ideas. We have divided the areas of responsibility into four sections; publicity and public relations, curriculum, school participation/registration and voting on Mock Election Day. The Secretary of State's staff will be responsible for the voting process—printing the ballot, getting a copy of the ballot to all participating school coordinators and teachers, and serving as Mock Election Central. As Mock Election Central, the Secretary of State's office will update the electronic voting system, provide phone lines, fax lines and computers to receive incoming votes, and maintain a continuous tally and final record of the vote on the Mock Election web site and for the media. Janis Jones, Kern County Unified School District Coordinator to the Government and Social Studies Curriculum, has agreed to serve on the Mock Election Steering Committee and will be responsible for getting curriculum material to teachers in the public school system beginning in February 2000. The League of Women Voters of California Education Fund (LWVCEF) will oversee the registration of school sites. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Mock Election Steering Committee and LWVCEF will be responsible for generating publicity about the project. Local Leagues will be asked to encourage participation by schools in their area and to provide additional resources and enrichment activities to all participating schools in cooperation with their local Registrar of Voters, PTA, AAUW, school boards, media and Chambers of Commerce. Mock Election 2000 will provide the students of California the opportunity to determine whom they want to be the next president of the United States, the person who will lead our nation into the 21st Century. We expect a huge voter turnout. Together, we can make this a dynamic project. Emily Penfield, LWVC Voters Service Director
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