Shenendehowa students narrowly elected former president Donald Trump as the next president of the United States hours before he was actually elected the 47th president.
Shenendehowa High School held a mock election for students on Tuesday in honor of Election Day. Students in both High School East and High School West made their way to their respective school libraries and cast their ballots through a Google form submission. The ballots mimicked those that were voted on in the real Saratoga County elections.
Nearly 700 students participated in the mock election in between both buildings. Voting was open throughout the school day and many teachers brought down their classes to experience voting.
President and Vice President:
The race for President and Vice President of the United States was very close in the mock election. In total, 50.5 percent of students voted Republican candidate Donald Trump for President with his running mate J.D. Vance as Vice President, while the other 49.5 percent voted Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for President with her running mate Tim Walz as Vice President.
The results of the mock vote somewhat mirrored the actual election. As of Wednesday afternoon, Trump was declared the winner of the election after receiving 270 electoral votes. He has received 51 percent of the votes counted while Harris has received 47.5 percent. The remaining votes went to third-party candidates or people written in on the ballot.
United States Senator:
In the race to be a U.S. Senator for the state of New York, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand received 49.4 percent of the votes in the mock election, making her the school’s winner. Republican Michael Sapraicone got 44.2 percent of the students’ vote, and Independent candidate Diane Sare earned 6.5 percent of their votes.
The real election proved a more resounding victory for Gillibrand, who won with 58.4 percent of votes compared to 41.1 percent for Sapraicone and 0.5 percent for Sare.
Representatives in Congress (District 20):
Shen favored Paul Tonko (Democrat) to win the election for Congress Representative of District 20. District 20 contains Albany, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Rensselaer Counties. Tonko won 57.1 percent of the votes in the mock election against Kevin Waltz (Republican). These results mirrored that of the actual election with Tonko winning 60.4 percent of votes.
State Senator (District 44):
In the race for State Senator from District 44, James Tedisco (Republican) won 57.3 percent of the votes in the mock election. He was running against Minita Sanghvi (Democrat) for the position. The outcome was similar to that of the real election where Tedisco won 58.3 percent of the votes.
Member of Assembly (District 112):
In the mock election, Shen students favored Joe Seeman (Democrat), who received 53.4 percent of the votes. Mary Beth Walsh (Republican) earned 46.6 percent of the students’ votes. However, in the true election, voters favored Walsh, who won with 59.2 percent of the votes. Seeman lost after receiving 45.3 percent of the votes in the real election.
County Court Judge:
James R. Davis was the only person on the ballot for County Court Judge, so it is not surprising that in both the mock election and the true election James R. Davis was elected.
County Treasurer:
In the mock election, students favored the Democratic Michele Madigan, who earned 52.2 percent of their vote compared to 47.8 percent of the vote going to Republican JoAnn Kupferman. However, it was Kupferman who prevailed in the actual election in Saratoga County with 66,234 votes compared to 50,515 votes for Madigan.
Proposition 1:
74.1 percent of Shen students voted “Yes” for Proposal 1 in the mock election, which puts anti-discrimination protections in the New York State constitution. Outside of the mock election, 61.8 percent of New Yorkers voted “Yes” for Proposal 1 compared to the 38.2 percent that voted against it. The protections were implemented after a favorable vote in the state.
