On Tuesday, October 29, students at Kennebunk High School had the opportunity to participate in a mock election during lunch. According to Mrs. Leblanc, “Mock elections are organized to encourage students around civic engagement. The belief is that it will make students more familiar and comfortable with the voting process so they will be more likely to participate once they turn 18.”

293 students at KHS voted, which is around 50% of our student body. Results show that here at KHS, Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump by 33 ballots. Angus King and Chellie Pingree, won for US Senate and House of Representatives. For local elections, Henry Ingwersen, Joseph Rafferty, Traci Gere—by an eight vote margin, Scott Craig, and Jason Nedau, won in their respective categories. Students, additionally, favored a historical building bond, trail bond, and biotech bond. Students also voted to limit PAC money and to change the state flag to the proposed one by 83 votes, which includes the northern star and a pine tree with 16 branches to represent Maine’s 16 counties. 

Maine High School students have accurately predicted the winner of the presidential election since 2008. 21,775 students voted across 115 schools across Maine that reported results towards the mock election. Although Kennebunk’s results show Harris as the clear winner, state-wide results differ. The rest of Maine schools agreed with our votes toward Angus King and Chellie Pingree; however, their presidential candidate winner was Donald Trump. Since Donald Trump won the election, Maine high schools’ mock election prediction streak continues another four years. As Maine goes, so does the nation.