If it were up to Siloam Springs High School students, the United States would have a new president.

Students elected Mitt Romney to the presidential office during a mock election held during lunch in the school computer labs Tuesday.

Romney received 54 percent of the students’ vote while Barack Obama received 39 percent. A total of 140 students voted.

SSHS social studies teacher Michele Jackson said teachers wanted students to appreciate the freedom and responsibility of voting.

“We want to provide a reallife experience for them so when they are of legal voting age, they will be more motivated to participate in the election process,” she said.

To make the mock electionfeel as real as possible, students registered to vote by filling out a sample Arkansas Voter Registration Form in their social studies classes in October, and they had to show a photo identification card once at the “polling place” prior to voting Tuesday.

Because of time restrictions, the ballots, which students filled out on computers, were condensed versions of the official ballots and included the U.S. presidential and vice presidential candidates, the U.S.

Congress District 3 candidates and three issues.

Junior Emily Pritchett said that after the intense campaign, the voting process was easy.

“It seems way more simple than it does in real life,” she said.

She and two of her peers, Josh Springer and Samuel Cannady, said there have been some tension-filled conversations and heated debates among students about who would best lead the country.

Springer mentioned how their lunch table consists of mainly Republicans with a couple ofDemocrats, which caused some tension when political discussion took place.

In one of Pritchett’s morning classes, students were instructed to choosea candidate and defend their choice.

“It started a whole lot of heated discussion about several different topics,” she said.

When asked how they thought the mock election would turn out, all three said Romney would win by a landslide. They spoke to the Herald-Leader prior to the results being tallied.

“I think (Gary) Johnson and Obama will have an equal amount, but it’ll be small compared to Romney,” Pritchett said.

Cannady agreed and said most students will probably vote the way their parents would.

“The students are probably going to vote based on what their parents are telling them,” he said. “They’re not going to choose for themselves, I don’t think.”

News, Pages 1 on 11/07/2012