In a mock presidential election at Pocantico Hills Central School Nov. 2, students in grades 4-8 gave the popular vote and electoral college wins to Joe Biden over President Donald Trump.
The fifth- and sixth-grade team arranged for 12 classes to participate in the voting. Each class was assigned four or five states randomly so the students could project an electoral college vote as well as the popular vote.
During the day on Nov. 2, each student visited the middle school hallway to fill out a secret ballot and place it into the ballot box. They learned the results on Nov. 3, Election Day.
Sixth-graders have been learning about the Electoral College and how states have traditionally voted, including New York, so they expected the results of the Pocantico vote. Students carefully watched the results of the swing states – Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and others – in the days after the election.
A special thanks goes to teaching assistant Zeena Arturo for organizing the electoral college vote and counting the ballots.
Most Americans think it is wrong that the candidate with the most national popular votes can lose a presidential election.
We don’t allow this in any other election in our representative republic.
The National Popular Vote bill is 73% of the way to guaranteeing the majority of Electoral College votes and the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the country.
The bill changes state statewide winner-take-all laws (not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, but later enacted by 48 states), without changing anything in the Constitution, using the built-in method that the Constitution provides for states to make changes.
It requires enacting states with 270 electoral votes to award their electoral votes to the winner of the most national popular votes.
All votes would be valued equally in presidential elections, no matter where voters live.
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