Denker: Watching students vote in a mock election filled me with hope

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It felt fitting to spend the Monday before the U.S. voted on potentially electing its first-ever woman president at a middle school that bears the name of the country’s most famous suffragette.

Earlier this fall, I’d signed up to volunteer at my son’s school, Susan B. Anthony Middle School in Minneapolis, as it hosted its traditional mock election, held every two years. It participates among other middle schools from around Minnesota and the United States. Afterward, social studies classes in all the schools will review the results, comparing them across rural, urban and suburban districts from Rochester to International Falls, and from Seattle to Miami.

As the election drew nearer and I wondered how to convey the depth of my thoughts and feelings around it, I couldn’t think of a better way to do so than spending the afternoon with preteens and teens learning to exercise their American right, being trained and formed in the hallowed patterns of American democracy, which owes its existence not only to judges and lawyers from elite social classes, but also to everyday Americans across the country, from every walk of life. And, in recent decades, from every gender, race and creed.

Being the mom of a middle schooler, and previously having served as a substitute teacher in P.E. for some of these students, I’d seen firsthand the chaos that sometimes results when you put a bunch of preteens and teenagers into a crowded room, particularly after lunch on a day when school is canceled the following day. So I was anticipating more than a few antics and maybe more than my share of misbehavior or disrespect.

Instead, I was struck immediately by the seriousness with which these students took their chance to cast a vote. The ballots they had were identical to the ones adults in that area would be voting with on Election Day with the exception of the page of judges. The kids filed in quietly, then told me and another parent volunteer their names, spelling them as needed. We checked them off, just as poll workers do here in Minnesota at voting sites, and then they took their ballots to private desks with cardboard dividers.

Most of the kids looked me right in the eyes when they took their ballot. The girls, especially, I noticed, tended to smile broadly.

“Thank you,” many of them said.

They took time filling out their ballots. When another parent and I did some tabulations at the end, we saw few “joke” write-in names. The kids wanted their voices to be heard. They’d been talking about the election in their classes and amongst each other.

Teri Ricks, one of the school’s social studies teachers who brought her students to vote, told me she thought it was “really important” that her students understood the process.

“I want them to vote according to where they see the person aligning with their values, and how this person would represent them,” she told me.

Eighth-grader Rory King-Kearin, 13, said he was looking forward to voting and “showing my voice.”

Donald Trump made a push in his campaign to attract younger male voters, but Rory said among he and his friends, “there’s a lot of people voting for Kamala.”

“Looking at the commercials, it seems like she is going to cut down on taxes and go after our country’s problems,” Rory said. “Unlike what Trump is doing, which seems like just going after his enemies.”

These students were elementary school students four years ago when angry Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to block the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential win. Rory remembered watching the footage from Jan. 6 on TV.

“I know some people will be mad if one person wins,” he said. “I guess I’m a little bit scared.”

But, he continued: “It would be pretty cool to have the first woman president. Even though it’s disappointing we haven’t had one yet. It would be good for our country.”

Sitting on the couch next to Rory was his classmate, Arya Srinivasan, 13, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from India, giving Arya something in common with Harris.

Arya told me about watching the presidential and vice presidential debates with friends and family and then discussing those debates in her social studies class.

“She doesn’t tell us where she stands or what she thinks we should think,” Arya said of her social studies teacher, “She helped guide our conversation.”

Like Rory, Arya said most of her friends and family were on the same page in their support for Harris.

“I agree with her policies,” she said. “I don’t really agree with Trump very much. Especially on women’s reproductive rights. He said he wouldn’t [implement] the ban, but he says a lot of stuff.”

As teenage girls under a prospective Trump presidency, Arya said she and her friends were aware of the potential for limitation of their right to reproductive health care, even in dangerous health situations.

“I feel like I’m kind of scared,” she said. “There’s a lot of things that can happen. It’s necessary for us to have [reproductive freedom].”

Mixed with their fear, though, was Arya and her friends’ and family’s joy at the chance of a Harris victory.

“My mom likes the representation,” Arya said. “We aren’t the biggest minority group. It’s cool to have it be such a big deal.”

Despite Republican rhetoric blaming immigrants for America’s woes, Arya and her Indian American family could glimpse a chance at celebration after Election Day.

“We’ll probably just be really happy,” she said, her face widening into a broad smile. “And relieved.”

Before I came to Anthony Middle School that Monday morning, my stomach had been in knots thinking about Election Day, just as many Americans also found themselves wracked with anxiety approaching this year’s heated presidential election. But I walked away that afternoon filled with hope for teenagers who weren’t yet jaded or cynical about participating in American politics. And for my last few words with Ricks, the social studies teacher who is also a Black woman. She was wearing her pearls on Monday.

“I won’t tell you who I’m voting for,” she reiterated a few times.

I understood her professional reticence. But how would she feel if Harris won on Tuesday?

Ricks took a deep breath.

“It would be a very proud moment for me.”

(Final Susan B. Anthony Middle School presidential election results: Harris: 577; Trump: 47.)