U.S. citizens must be 18 years old to vote in a Presidential election.
That restriction stopped most students in the Tea Area School District from casting a decisive ballot on Tuesday, but students did use the occasion as a way to earn about the political process.
Mock elections were held at all three Tea Area schools on Tuesday, and teachers at all grade levels used the historic election as a teaching tool in the classroom.
At the high school, students in American Government class split into groups to become campaign staffers in the school-wide mock election for President, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Students made posters for their candidates to post around the school gave speeches to persuade their fellow government students and participated in debates.
Ryan Decker teaches two of three sections of American Government at the high school. Students enrolled in the class learn about the electoral process every semester, but Decker said a real presidential election is a unique opportunity.
With the possibility of the nation selecting its first black president or its first female vice president, the opportunity has been even more unique.
“From the very beginning, we talked about the significance of the candidacies we had with Hilary (Clinton) and Barack (Obama) and how that’s led up to now,” Decker said on Friday.
A general election is always a valuable teaching tool, Decker said, but the general election of 2008 also gave students a chance to make a clear choice.
“With this race, there are definite differences in style between the two major candidates for president, so the kids get interested because there is a figure they support,” Decker said.
Most students in one section supported Sen. Barack Obama in an informal poll before the class began work on the unit in mid-October. In the other section, the majority supported Sen. John McCain.
Senior Justin Steinberg said he supports John McCain – both in and out of class. He said he now gets involved in the discussions his parents have about politics and said he understands that he has a voice in the political process.
“You can actually change things,” Steinberg said.
In the House and Senate races, Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin and Sen. Tim Johnson enjoyed name recognition, but some students assigned to the campaigns of House candidate Chris Lien and Senate candidate Joel Dykstra may have changed their minds, Decker said.
Two groups of students – one for, one against – campaigned for Initiative J, which would repeal South Dakota’s term limits for state legislators.
Junior Stephanie Miller’s research for class led her to oppose the repeal of term limits. She said school-wide campaigning gave her a new respect for the work put into campaigns by state- and nationwide organizers.
“It takes a lot of time; probably a lot of money,” Miller said.
Members of the student council registered students throughout the high school for the election, which took place on Tuesday in the commons.

Tea Intermediate
The students at the Tea Intermediate School also had a chance to voice an opinion.
At the Intermediate School, students can vote at a booth outside the classroom of fourth-grade teacher Kristi Desaulniers or in their own classroom.
Desaulniers teaches helped organize the school-wide vote to supplement the social studies curriculum. In that course, the students usually use the fall semester to learn about the rights and responsibilities of immigrants.
Desaulniers said the mock election gave her an opportunity to show the importance of those rights.
“We really encourage voting as an active way to participate in the citizenship process,” Desaulniers said.
To educate students on their choices, they talked in class about three issues and the candidates’ views on them – the war in Iraq, health care and education.
The teacher said a focus on the issues helped her students to understand the difficult choices they’ll be presented with as adults.
“We talked about how difficult it can be to make that vote when you can see both views,” she said.
Students take initiative, too.
“Students will bring in stories they see in the newspaper about things we just talked about in class,” she said. “There’s been more discussion as it gets closer.”
Engagement is important, she said, because not every student will get the chance to see how fortunate they are to be able to participate in elections s. Desaulniers’ husband is from Canada and misses the ability to vote, she said, and her daughter is from Guatemala. Her experiences with travel and family have given her a deep appreciation for her country, she said.
“We’re very fortunate to have what we have, and I didn’t know that as a fourth-grader,” she said.

Tea Primary
Even the youngest students in Tea will take the opportunity to learn about voting this fall.
Second grade teacher Elizabeth McGeough dropped off ballots for teachers there on Monday.
The teachers sent class time talking about voting, the electoral process and who the candidates are.
On the way to lunch on Tuesday, the students dropped their completed forms in a box for tabulation.
The results will be posted outside the lunchroom.
The tabulation will go beyond winning numbers, though.
Third grade teacher Kristen Peterson will tabulate both the popular vote and simulate the Electoral College vote. For example, if her third graders have 16 votes for McCain and four votes for Obama, her classroom’s Electoral College vote will go for McCain.