Sanders, Clinton, Cruz take top spot in mock caucus

By: Tyler Campbell

Caucusing will be a new adventure for high school students who will be 18 by election time this coming November, but many have questions for how to get involved. Senior Aditi Rao understood that very well, and on Jan. 21 organized a mock caucus for students to answer these questions. This taught students not only some of the candidate’s political views but also helped prepare them for real caucusing on Feb. 1.

For Rao, her motivations were clear, “since so many people at our school, are eligible to vote and have a huge impact on the vote,” she said. “Also, it is good to hear what candidates are really about, not just what is seen on social media.”

Many students participated in this educational and fun event. There were six candidates represented at the caucus. They included Rand Paul, Martin O’Malley, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Of the candidates, Paul, O’Malley, Sanders and Clinton all had guest speakers to try and influence the student body to vote for them. On the other hand, Trump and Cruz both had student volunteers to speak on their behalf.

After listening to all of the speakers, students were persuaded by speakers to come to their booths and vote for candidates. In the first round, students went to the booths of the candidates that they wanted to su

pport. Following that, the presidential candidates with the lowest amount of voters were eliminated, so in this mock caucus, Trump was eliminated first, and all the people who voted for Trump went to a new candidate. Most joined the Cruz booth.

In the end, most of the students went to the Sanders table, followed by Clinton, Cruz, O’Malley, Paul and Trump in last.

Many students learned more about the caucusing system. Junior Olivia Habinck described the event as “great and fun.” She said she voted for Hillary Clinton to win the caucus because “I read a lot of articles about different topics and found that I am very liberal. I have had no influence from my family or friends on my political views.”

Sophomore Britney Sires said, “I thought the caucus was pretty cool seeing where everyone stands politically.” She said of her political views that “I’m a Republican, and I watch the news and form opinions on topics. My parents did help influence, but what they say makes sense to me.”