Shortly after exiting one of the four polling booths at Kruse Education Center in Orland Park, Richard Kruis stood at the polling place with his kindergarten classmates trying desperately to remember the name of the man he just voted for in the school’s presidential election.
“I don’t remember his name, but I know it started with a B,” he said fumbling with the receipt from his ballot.
“He has a nice name and he looks really nice. Um, I think … it’s Gov. George Bush,” he blurted.
Republican presidential candidate George Bush’s name may have escaped the young man momentarily, but in the end, Bush commanded the school’s election Thursday and Friday over Democratic candidate Al Gore by a 2-1 ratio.
With 379 votes cast, 257 of the school’s students in kindergarten through 6th grade voted for the Texas governor. Vice President Al Gore received 108 votes. Four went to Reform Party Pat Buchanan, nine to Green Party candidate Ralph Nader and Libertarian Party candidate Harry Browne received one vote.
Debra Erikson, the gifted facilitator for the District 146 school, began talking to the Parent Teacher Association president, Mary Beth Casper, in September about of holding a presidential election at the school.
Casper is the daughter of the late Frederick Owens, a former mayor of Orland Park. She also is married to Orland Township Trustee Dean Casper, who used his contacts at the Orland Township clerk’s office to obtain four polling booths for the two-day event.
Mary Beth Casper contacted the Cook County clerk’s office for registration forms and also received sample ballots.
Each class was labeled as a precinct and each pupil was required to register to vote two weeks ago. The teachers then set up a mini-campaign leading up to the election, offering objective information on both candidates. Several of the classes allowed the students to campaign for one candidate or another.
Laura Andrews, 10, pointed out her poster that read, “Vote for Gore. Don’t be a bore!”
“I watch the news and watched the debates and I think Gore has better issues than Bush,” she said.
Once at the polling place, each pupil went through the very adult process of stating and spelling their name, signing their registration form and receiving a ballot from.
In the booth, the littlest voters, often standing on step stools, needed help from student council members.
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Showing the children the election process helped dispel many misconceptions, Erickson said.
“I always thought you wrote the name on a piece of paper and turned it into someone,” said Sabrina Pripusich, 11, a 6th grader.
“We wanted the kids to feel as much a part of the process as possible. When I first voted, I was scared to death. Hopefully, this will stay with them and they will get excited about it,” Erickson said.
Casper said she hopes it even goes a little further. “I hope it just translates to their parents and it gets them to vote,” she said.