WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Oct. 31) -- Democrats can go ahead and break out the mock champagne. The results of the National Student/ Parent Mock Election are in, and its 5.77 million voters chose to return President Bill Clinton for a second term, giving him 55 percent of the vote to 33 percent for GOP nominee Bob Dole.
Dole won only nine states -- Alaska, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, representing only 38 of 538 electoral votes. To win the presidency, 270 electoral votes are needed.
The 16-year-old mock vote program is designed to give students a feeling for the power of voting, in hopes of getting them to vote for real when they turn 18.
Most 18-year-olds don't vote. "The feeling is if this trend is not reversed then we're in danger of losing our democracy," said mock election staffer Suzanne Veaudry. "In a mock election, the students actually get to see their votes on television. They get to see they've come up with a presidential candidate they think should win. So they believe their voice is being heard."
Voters were able to cast ballots in schools around the country, and on the Internet via the AllPolitics site. The results were announced Wednesday night on CNN in a 2 1/2-hour special.
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