Rick Gunn/Nevada Appeal Kevin Zaragoza, 8, holds the ballot box for the Fremont Elementary mock elections Tuesday. Five third-grade classes voted between the presidential elections and the Carson City mayoral election. George Bush and Ray Masayko won.
Third-graders at Fremont Elementary School voted for George Bush for President and Ray Masayko for Carson City mayor in the school's mock elections Tuesday.
More than 100 students in five third-grade classes voted. Zoey Gray and Kevin Zaragoza were some of the last third-grade students to cast their ballots on Election Day. Results were tallied that afternoon.
"I wrote, 'none of the above' under president because I'm going for the Green Party," 9-year-old Zoey said. "I'm a big nature person."
"The president needs more stuff to do to run the country and control the Navy and the military," 8-year-old Kevin said.
Teacher Kathy Rothchild runs an election at the school every presidential election. She encourages students to talk with their parents about whom they should vote for.
"We had a weekly reader that had the candidates and we talked about the candidates," she said. "Of course, at this level, the kids mostly share what they hear at home."
Students went behind a panel and then marked their ballots and then put them into a box.
"I'm kinda excited about being 18 when I can vote," Zoey said. "It might be kinda fun."
Also, at Dayton High School on Tuesday, teacher Shanna Krueger's honors government class dressed in red, white and blue during a party to celebrate Election Day.
"We watched the election news and discussed two issues: whether Election Day should be a holiday and the high voter turnout," Krueger said.
Below are reflections from two of her students on this year's presidential election.
By Scott H. McFadden
On Nov. 2, the people of this nation turned out in record numbers to choose our president; more than one hundred million people.
And, unlike 2000, the end result is not a contested victory. A lead of more than 3 1/2 million people is, by no reckoning, a small thing. That's three times all of the people who voted in Nevada.
I was somewhat torn on the subject of the election. I had thought it would be much closer; impossible to know until the very end. But it seemed a clear victory for President Bush from about 10 p.m. (our time), when Ohio was called for Bush by most national news programs.
Bush's electoral vote was up to 269, a tie at the minimum. I had hoped for a Kerry win. In fact, I was hoping, for the poetic justice, that Kerry would win the electoral vote but lose the popular vote.
Would some Democrats still claim it was not a legitimate win without the popular vote? Would Republicans suddenly say that you did need the popular vote?
But it was not to be, although it looked very possible at one point. We have our president for four more years, good or bad, and there's no denying his legitimacy. The good thing about this election, I think, was how graciously Kerry conceded, despite the message from Edwards that every vote would count. We avoided that, the only truly pleasing part about this election, at least to me.
By Caleb Karges
I was very nervous on Election Day. Throughout the day I tried to brace myself for the worst. So many signs such as the polls and the curse of the Redskins were pointing to a victory for Kerry, which frightened me.
I was unsure of what Kerry would do, due to his habit of constantly changing his stance on certain issues. But my biggest fear was having another 2000 on our hands.
Throughout the day I remembered 2000 and how it left me hanging on the edge of my seat for so long. As I watched election coverage on the night of Election Day I was more concerned about not having another 2000 than who won.
I spent the whole night glued to the computer looking at the map on cnn.com or watching FOX News. I held my breath all night. I began to feel more relieved as I saw more states turn red.
Ohio was still in the air, but Bush still had large lead. FOX News finally called Ohio. They said Kerry had to pull an upset in Alaska to have a shot at winning. I was amazed at how fast results for Alaska were reported.
When FOX said that Ohio was not going to be another Florida, my worst fear was gone. I finally went to bed satisfied knowing that Bush was most likely the winner.
The instant I awoke, I went straight to the news and was relieved to discover that Kerry had conceded.