Janet Mills Wins Re-Election in the Maine Student Mock Election
Students across Maine voted in a mock election this week, and chose Janet Mills for another term as Governor.
The online mock election was held on Tuesday, October 24th. Students cast their ballots for the gubernatorial race, as well as two congressional seats. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows says the aim is to teach young people about the electoral process in a hands-on manner. She says she hopes it will be the start of future voting practices and spark conversation at home that could encourage apprehensive parents to vote, as well.
This year's mock election results were posted on Friday:
As you can see, Janet Mills retained her office in the mock election, with more than 2,000 votes over Paul LePage. Chellie Pingree defeated her opponent, Edwin Thelander and Jared Golden was victorious over Bruce Poliquin in the students' first ranked-choice rankings. In all, 116 schools had submitted results by press time.
Again, this is a mock election. But it will be interesting to see how closely the students' results reflect the outcome of the actual election on November 8th. In Maine, 16- and 17-year-old teens who are pre-registered to vote can serve as poll workers. Anyone who is 18-years-old by Election Day will be able to vote this year.