Clanton Intermediate School students have been learning how to vote and how the government works.

Since the beginning of the year, the students have had classes and have taken fields trips to help explain the process of voting to the third, fourth and fifth grades.

Yesterday, the school held a mock election. A total of 549 students cast votes. John McCain defeated Barack Obama 369-180 at Clanton Intermediate School.

“I have been surprised at the seriousness the kids have shown during this mock-election. It has seemed like they have really been trying to learn how everything works and they are having fun doing it,” CIS enrichment teacher Tammy Price said.

Along with studying government, the students recently took a field trip to the state capital where they could see how everything worked in person. Many of the students were excited about what they saw.

“I have really had a lot of fun doing all of this, even though I was a little nervous about doing something wrong,” student Madison “Madi” Price said.

Madi added that because of the mock-election she would most likely vote when she was big enough to do so.

The school’s mock election included all of the proper procedures for voting like signing in, picking up a ballot, voting privately and placing votes in a closed box.

“All of the students in the school participated, and the students in the enrichment class were head of the election. They were the ones in charge of getting the students to and from the voting area and then through each of the steps that it takes to vote,” Tammy said.

The school is hoping that experiences like these will help encourage the students to vote when they become of age.