With the midterm elections coming up on November 2, BRFHS spent the past week holding mock elections to determine where our school stands on the political race. During these mock elections, students put their vote in for Governor, US Senate, House of Representatives, State Assembly and State Senate. Along with that, students shared their opinion on how to solve issues within our school.
The results are in. The democratic party proved to be victorious in the elections, winning the votes for each category. Tom Barrett, the current mayor of Milwaukee, and Scott Walker battled it out for governor, with Barrett winning the election with 60% of votes. For the US Senate between Democrat Russ Feingold, Republican Ron Johnson and constitution candidate Rob Taylor, BRFHS decided to stick with what we already have, giving the win to current senator Feingold with 53% of votes. Three candidates are ran for House of Representatives: Ron Kind, Dan Kapanke and Michael Kriesan. The current titleholder proved victorious again, with Kind winning with 59% of votes. The State Assembly, a race between Mark Radcliffe and Dennis Clinnard, went to local politician Mark Radcliffe, who brought in the highest percentage of votes with 71%. Lastly, students voted on State Senate. The candidates were Kathleen Vinehout and Ed Thompson. Just like every other category, the Democratic party came out on top, with Vinehout receiving 52% of votes.
Students did not only vote for the candidates in the midterm elections. The ballots also featured questions about changing the voting age to 16, where 54% said it should, and also about how students felt about the Student Senate Constitution, where 89% of voters approved.
Also, a big issue in BRFHS was voted on: scheduling. As many know, administration is looking into other options to solve the problems faced with our current block schedule. Voters were asked if they would prefer to switch to having more skinnies and explore A/B blocks, seven to eight classes in a day or if they would rather keep the schedule as is. Many may not be surprised to know that a majority would prefer to stay away from changing scheduling; 74% voted to keep the block scheduling. In second place was exploring A/B scheduling with 18% of the vote followed by seven to eight classes with 8%.
The midterm mock elections broke a record. Though the senate didn’t meet their turnout goal of 60% they came close. 55% of students took time to vote, breaking the previous record that had been held since 1992. One of the goals for the senate is to raise awareness about voting and to encourage students to do so, which they did with the past elections. The senate used voting guides and also talked with students in order to break this record. The junior class brought the most votes in with 64% hitting the polls. The class also had the highest turnout during the senate elections.
The official midterm elections will be on Tuesday, November 2. Anyone of voting age is encouraged to vote.
