Throughout September, Contemporary Issues hosted a mock election. The candidates included Madison Lewis (11th) from the “Freedom First Party” and Vincent Zaccery (12th) from the “Valiant Party”. The meaning behind this election was for students to pick a current presidential candidate without the names and natural bias that comes with it. Therefore, the class decided to disguise the current presidential candidate’s names and parties, using Vincent Zaccery and Madison Lewis. Vincent Zaccery, from the “Valiant Party”, ran and expressed policies from the democratic party portraying Kamala Harris. Madison Lewis, from the “Freedom First Party,” expressed policies from the republican party portraying Donald Trump. The teacher of the class, Tucker Wilkinson, explained that the goal of this social experiment was: “To create a better understanding of the election process and introduce our student body to the actual issues being discussed in the 2024 election.”
The election started simply with each party and the “media team” sending out polls to the high school student body to gauge what they considered to be the most important issue. From then on, the candidates made their campaign around these issues.
On September 16, Madison Lewis took the initiative and gave a speech to the students during a Monday morning meeting about her ideas. The following Monday at the all-school meeting, Madison and Vincent faced off in a mock debate in front of the students, answering questions regarding inflation, housing prices, climate change, and job opportunities. After that, the candidates went door-to-door campaigning, made posters, and shook hands to win votes. The “media team” took an unbiased stance and broadcasted all the election news. On Monday, September 3, voting took place, and Vinny Zaccery won.
By: Bridget Zimmerman
