In voting at the Medomak Middle School Oct. 28, Republican Paul LePage won the gubernatorial election by an easy margin over runner-up Independent Eliot Cutler. Democrat Libby Mitchell placed a distant third.
“I expected Cutler to be the spoiler for Mitchell, not the other way around,” said Medomak Middle School teacher Glenda Robinson.
The actual statewide election will, of course, not take place until next Tuesday, but the results from a mock election at the Middle School in Waldoboro could be a strong indicator of what local election results will look like, Robinson said.
At the Middle School, LePage took 44 percent of the vote; Cutler 30 percent; Mitchell 12 percent; Sean Moody 9 percent; and Kevin Scott 5 percent.
Robinson has been running these mock elections since 2000 and said that most years the way the kids vote is an excellent predictor of how people will vote in the area the kids are from – RSU/MSAD 40, which includes Waldoboro, Warren, Friendship, Union and Washington – will vote.
The students also approved all three state referendum questions and re-elected Chellie Pingree to Congress.
In Legislative results, Chris Rector was elected for House District 49, Dana Dow for House District 50 and Lisa Miller for House District 52. David Trahan held his seat in the State Senate.
“I’m thrilled,” Trahan said in an interview following the election. “Every time I’ve won at the Middle School, I’ve won in the general election.”
Trahan, however, has never lost in the general election.
However accurate or inaccurate the results of the Middle School election turn out to be, the activity is great learning experience for the kids, Robinson said.
“It helps them understand the election process and how to actually go in an cast a vote,” Robinson said. “A lot of adults have told me they wish they had had something like this before they had to go out and vote.”
