Students participated in a mock election hosted by Citizen Club during lunch periods last Thursday.  Citizen Club hoped this would give students the opportunity to become more comfortable with politics.

Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee won the majority of the votes, with 50%. President Obama the Democratic nominee won 35% of the votes, according to Ms. Jessica Hurt, social studies department chair.

For Alexander Hagermoser, senior and Citizen Club member, this didn’t come as a surprise, given the political dynamics of the Hinsdale area.

“After his performance in the debate, and the fact that Hinsdale is very Republican, I wasn’t surprised that Romney won,” Hagermoser said.

The mock election’s purpose was to help the students. “We wanted to do this to give students experience in voting because the many procedures can be somewhat intimidating,” Hagermoser said. “Hopefully, this will make students more comfortable voting in the future.”

Citizen Club was happy with the turnout, with 488 ballots being cast, according to Hagermoser. The club wanted to make the experience as realistic as possible, employing three polling booths, a ballot reader and election judges. The idea of being able to be involved in the voting process and politics encouraged many students to vote.

“I voted because it gave me a chance to express my political opinion in school and take a part in the overall political process,” said Shreya Rao, junior.

Hagermoser believes that part of the interest was because of the presidential debate the day before.

“After the debate, many students were interested, and they wanted to express their opinions,” Hagermoser said.

In the future Citizen Club hopes to host midterm mock elections.