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Editor's note: A typographical error has been corrected since initial publication. All of the data are from 2022.
Three area school districts took part in the Minnesota secretary of state’s 2022 Students Voting Mock Election this year.
Students at BOLD High School, Dawson-Boyd Stevens Elementary and Kerkhoven-Murdock Sunburg Junior/Senior High School were part of more than 158,000 students from 315 Minnesota schools who participated in the program. Ballots in the program were cast for the governor’s race.
The program promotes a realistic voting experience, according to a news release from Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office. Students follow the same steps as adult voters by receiving a ballot and marking their ballots behind privacy screens on Election Day. They cast their ballots and receive “I Voted” stickers.
The program is sponsored by the Secretary of State’s Office and YMCA’s Center for Youth Voice. Other schools may have had mock elections that were not part of the state program.
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Official statewide results in the 2022 election were 53.3% for Gov. Tim Walz; 44.6% for Republican Scott Jensen; 1.2% for James McCaskel, Legal Marijuana Now Party; 0.9% for Steve Patterson, Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota; 0.7% for Hugh McTavish, Independence-Alliance Party; 0.3% for Gabrielle Prosser, Socialist Workers Party.
Statewide student results in the mock election, among the schools reporting, also favored Walz’s re-election, with 17,179 votes for Walz, 45.2%, while Jensen received 11,100 votes, 29.2%.
Students showed support for other candidates, too: McCaskel, 4,202, 11%; Patterson, 2,072, 5.5%; Prosser, 1,939, 5.1%; and McTavish, 1,518, 4%.
Mock election results were reported from 184 Minnesota schools with more than 38,000 student votes cast, according to the mock voting results web page. Not all participating schools reported their results.
The release from the Secretary of State’s Office includes voting percentages for each school in the mock election, as well as comparison figures showing city and county voting percentages by political party in the actual 2022 election.
At BOLD, 172 students cast ballots. They voted 41.3% for Walz and 58.7% for Jensen. No other candidates received votes.
The city vote in Olivia was 38.7% for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and 57.7% for the Republican Party and 1.6% for the Legal Marijuana Now Party.
KMS had 192 students vote. They cast their votes 100% for Jensen.
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Renville County results were 39.4% DFL, 56.8% Republican and 2.8% Legal Marijuana Now.
The Kerkhoven city vote was 33.3% DFL, 64.6% Republican and 1% Legal Marijuana Now.
The Swift County vote was 43.3% DFL, 53.9% Republican and 2% Legal Marijuana Now.
At Dawson-Boyd Stevens Elementary, 79 students voted, with Walz receiving 29.2% and Jensen receiving 45.6%. Other candidates receiving votes were Patterson, 8.9%; Prosser, 3.8% and McTavish, 2.5%.
The Dawson city vote was 48.2% DFL, 48.7% Republican and 0.2% Legal Marijuana Now.
The Lac qui Parle County vote was 43.6% DFL, 53% Republican and 2.7% Legal Marijuana Now.
“It is inspiring to see so many students from across the state realize the power of their vote and the role they play in our shared democracy,” Simon said in the news release.
The program gives students hands-on experience with the process, “building their confidence and knowledge before they head to the polls for the first time after they turn 18,” he said.
