by Julie Gowel ·
Friday, November 1, 2024
As the nation prepares for Election Day, the Bromfield School is also getting ready to vote. Students, faculty, and staff have been invited to participate in a mock election to be held Monday, Nov. 4, outside the Bromfield cafeteria. Members of the school community were required to register by Oct. 25 to receive a ballot. Of the approximate 750 eligible voters, 337 registered to take part in the mock election.
Kathleen Doherty, grade 9 U.S. history teacher, has organized mock elections at Bromfield for years. In 2020 and 2022, she arranged online voting due to COVID-19, but with the help of grade 8 civics teacher Ryan Colarossi, they will be holding in-person voting for the 2024 presidential election.
“As a social studies teacher, I think it is very important to discuss civics, including the voting process,” said Doherty. “A mock election, hopefully, gets students interested in and prepared for the real-life exercise of voting. Registering, looking at the ballot, doing some research, and deciding how to vote.”
Klara Tatarev demonstrates placing a ballot in the town’s former ballot box as Lucy Feltz turns the crank. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
“Although this is my first time being a part of the mock election, it is great to see students excited to cast their ballots,” said Colarossi. “It has sparked conversations in and outside of the classroom. Notably, students have been respectful of one another’s beliefs, regardless of whether they agree or disagree.”
Doherty explained that her lessons leading up to the election include discussions about civil discourse and political division. One particular example she uses is the relationship between two former U.S. Supreme Court justices, Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The judges had vastly divergent political views, yet remained great friends. Colarossi shows clips from a 2018 documentary “American Creed” to show how founders from conservative and liberal advocacy groups were able to find common ground and appreciate their differences.
Doherty’s students also evaluated the Massachusetts ballot questions. “I shared the link to Massachusetts voter’s guide with students but pointed out that the arguments were limited in word count and were made by proponents and opponents of each question—not a neutral party,” she said. “I encouraged them to look at the main arguments for the side they didn’t agree with, so they could look more closely at those arguments to see if they held up.” The class discussions are ongoing and thus far, Doherty is impressed with the students’ thoughtfulness and research capabilities.
During the mock election, registrants will cast their votes at tables set up in the hallway outside the Bromfield cafeteria. Ballots will go into an old ballot box that the town used before moving to the current boxes. According to Doherty, the town clerk gave the old box to the school. “It is a hand-cranked box,” said Doherty. “While it doesn’t ‘read’ the ballots, it does count them as they enter, and a bell rings for every ballot that is cranked through by our student poll workers. Fun for us—not as much fun for the classroom teachers close to the voting area—but they are very good sports.”
The votes will be counted by pairs of students in Doherty’s and Colarossi’s classes. The teachers will supervise and ballots will be retained in the event a recount is required. Results will be announced Thursday, Nov. 7, or Friday, Nov. 8, at the latest.
“The two elections we did online due to COVID-19 were much easier,” explained Doherty. “[There was] no physical setup, no need for student volunteers, much less coordination required, and the votes were immediately counted by the Google forms. But those elections were not nearly as engaging!”