McCain wins in faux vote

Civics became a lot more real for Huntington Beach kids Tuesday.

A Marina High School government teacher opted to give his students the chance to earn extra credit if they worked the polls.

Morgan Lathrop, 17, spent the entire election day assisting voters.

“I was never really interested in politics before, but this government class really got me interested,” she said.

In the early afternoon, Morgan helped Eddie Elles, an 18-year-old Huntington Beach High School student, in his first election.

“I really liked it,” Elles said of his experience. “My government class helped a lot; I learned about all the propositions and candidates, and what everyone thought of them.”

Participating Marina students were led through an on-campus polling orientation and were familiarized with electronic voting machines.

Morgan and her classmates stayed up late Tuesday in order to provide “election night coverage” in class.

Many Eader Elementary students were able to participate in a mock election, with paper ballots and long lines, during lunchtime.

Principal Cynthia Guerrero said preschool and kindergarten students were considered to be the “under 18” percentage of the population, and left out of the election.

Older kids in first through fifth grades cast 272 votes after waiting in a single-file line, but 197 of their friends chose to skip out on the electoral process.

“I can only hypothesize that they decided they wanted to go out and play instead, like some adults do,” Guerrero said. “It was actually surprising to me how many kids did not vote.”

Some children asked their principal who she voted for; she taught them that one’s decisions is a personal affair. Others wanted to know if their votes would count in the “adult” election.

“It was interesting for me to learn how much they knew, and that they had talked to their parents about the election,” Guerrero said.

One student mentioned that if they chose one candidate, they would help stop the war; they were told the other candidate would only help poor people.

The school favored John McCain, with 58% of votes going toward him; 113 votes, or 41%, went toward Barack Obama.

Younger students said they voted for the “guy with the shorter hair,” Guerrero said.

Eader even had a single write-in vote cast — not for Zac Efron or Miley Cyrus, but for Ron Paul.

CANDICE BAKER may be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at candice.baker@latimes.com.