“I think they saw this as an opportunity to let adults know what they think,” Khachatryan said, explaining that of particular interest to the students was Proposition 4, which would require parental notification about abortions for minors.
While the student voting results from across the state will be announced Friday, Clark Magnet results showed that Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama beat Republican candidate Sen. John McCain, 81% to 13%. Peace and Freedom Party candidate Ralph Nader got 4% of the school’s 489 votes for president.
In the state’s 2004 mock election, 53.5% of the 90,520 students participating voted for Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry, with 39.8% voting for President Bush.
Tuesday’s results at Clark also showed that students rejected Proposition 4, 64% to 36%. California students were split when voting on the same issue in a 2006 measure, with 49.91% of 71,724 students voting yes and 50.09% voting no.
“I said no because in some cases parents, they might be abusive, and you could be putting the girl in danger,” 16-year-old junior Shirley Mathew said. “And it’s the girl’s body. They can do what they please.”
Students had different reasons for participating in the mock vote, with some saying they were going along with the crowd, others passionate about the voting process, and some students going about their normal lunchtime routines, avoiding the sometimes long and curvy polling place line.
“The line was too big, and I was too lazy,” said 16-year-old junior Koryun Petrosiyan, who was sharing his iPod earphones with a friend. “If it was the real election, I would vote, because I know it’s going to make a difference.”
Senior Adrine Ghazarian, 17, said she planned to vote.
