In previous years, Beth Tfiloh Lower School and Middle School adopted an initiative that let young students fulfill one of their most important American civic duties, voting. Imitation polls were created out of cardboard and each student got to choose between the Democrat and Republican nominee for president. This process was fun and engaging for the students who got to feel as they are adults participating in our democracy. In the High School, this did not take place in previous election years. It has been done before, but never in High School principal Dr. Koplon’s tenure.
That changed this year. In an effort to get Kol BT more recognition among the student body, we ran a “Mock Election” on Thursday, October 31st, where High School students got the opportunity to fill out ballots and vote for president. There were just two candidates on this ballot and no opportunity for write-ins, contrary to the real elections. The process was simple; a Kol BT representative went around in classrooms and gave out these ballots to the students. The students would then check one of two boxes, and the ballots would be immediately collected. These votes were anonymous, and no one was required to share who they voted for. The votes were counted that night, and the results are highly anticipated.
The real election this year, based on the polls, is set to be one of the closest in American history, and it may be the most controversial one. The incumbent, Joe Biden, dropped out of the election in late July, just a little over three months before the election was set to occur. Immediately, Biden’s vice president Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination, and the race was set: Donald Trump vs. Kamala Harris. Trump is running as the Republican nominee for the third consecutive election, beating former First Lady Hillary Clinton in 2016 and losing to Joe Biden in 2020. Trump is looking to become the first politician since Democrat Grover Cleveland in 1892 to be president in two non-consecutive terms. Meanwhile, Vice President Harris is hoping to become the first female president in American history, a goal the Democrats had in 2016 when they nominated Hillary Clinton.
A lot has changed politically since 2020. For example, Israel, a major point of focus for many in the BT community, was attacked in October and has been involved in an ongoing major war. In addition, the American southern border had a record number of migrants cross over it illegally in the last two years. And while encounters between Border Patrol officers and migrants has significantly dropped, this still is proving to be a major issue for voters. Abortion rights and additional healthcare opportunities for females has also been a widely debated topic surrounding this election.
Nobody knows how this election will play out on Tuesday, but the results in our school election are pretty clear. Speaking from personal experience, it seems as the majority of the BT student body have primarily been Democrats, and in every election I participated in Lower School and Middle School, the results proved that theory. However, in this mock election, we saw a considerate shift to the other side. Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, received a whopping 65.7% of the votes in the High School, winning each grade individually as well. The only grade that was even somewhat competitive was the 10th grade, where Trump edged out Harris by only 5 votes. Every other grade had over 65% vote for Trump, and the 9th grade, BT’s biggest by student population, had the biggest Trump victory with nearly 72% of the grade voting for the former president. Frankly, I was surprised by these results considering the way the majority of BT students leaned in previous election years. I believe that if this election was run the in previous three elections, the results would’ve been a victory for the Democrats.
While this is not a reflection of how the Jewish population in the United States may vote, and it is certainly not a reflection of how the greater American population my vote, this is still definitely interesting to see how Jewish youth vote in this election.
The results, by the numbers, are as follows:
School Total: Donald Trump 65.7% | Kamala Harris 34.3%
9th Grade: Donald Trump 71.6% | Kamala Harris 28.4%
10th Grade: Donald Trump 54.9% | Kamala Harris 45.1%
11th Grade: Donald Trump 65.5% | Kamala Harris 34.5%
12th Grade: Donald Trump 71.4% | Kamala Harris 28.6%
Donald Trump is the winner of this historic Beth Tfiloh Mock Election in 2024. Election night is on Tuesday, November 5th, and Kol BT encourages everyone who can, to go out and vote.
