Election

Many people came out in both Oceanside and Island Park on Nov. 4 to cast their ballots. In Oceanside's 29 electoral districts, 15894 people voted, and 3625 voted in Island Park's 6 districts. Of those voters in Oceanside, 7885 (49 percent) voted for Obama and 8009 (50 percent) voted for McCain. And in Island Park, 1744 (48 percent) cast their votes for Obama and 1881 (52 percent) did so for McCain.
"It was interesting because up until the last minute, I was still debating who to vote for," said Karen R. after she voted at School 8. "But I think I made the right decision."
The part of Oceanside that McCain failed to win, however, was the Oceanside School District's mock election, in which Obama swept away McCain.
Over 5000 students cast their ballots in the mock elections, and every school's "electoral votes" went to Obama. In some schools, like School 2, Obama won by a narrow margin. McCain won 2171 votes from students, and Obama won 2965. Other candidates received 48 votes.
"I knew it was an historic election and our students are part of history right now, and I wanted to make sure that they had an opportunity to truly understand the issues, to have a voice, to really understand that it's their civic duty to understand what's happening in the community around them," said Dianne Provvido, the Oceanside School District's elementary ELA and social studies supervisor, who spearheaded the district's mock elections. " And I also wanted to come up with a way to get them to understand the electoral college process. It's a little difficult for students, but I wanted them to go beyond the popular vote. Understanding that there's just a little more than that."
The school district assigned electoral votes to each school based on its population, like the states in the electoral college, and Obama won all 100 of the district's electoral votes.
Questions or comments about this story? ACostello@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 207.