Whether a freshman new to DHS or a senior preparing to leave, a presidential election only comes around once in a high school career. To highlight the event, the Panther’s Tale Newspaper class along with the government classes wanted to perform a mock election.

“Since it was something new, it was hard,” senior Jason Sanabria said. “We had a lot of people so the work wasn’t all on one person.”

Sanabria was the leader of the election and wanted it to run as smoothly as possible.

“The first day was terrible, but once we knew what to do, it was easier,” Sanabria said.

There were some worries that students may not take the election seriously.

“I believe some students should have taken it more seriously,” Sanabria said. “Juniors and seniors were more mature because they know more about what is going on with the real election.”

Not all underclassmen were blind to what was going on though. For sophomore Timothy Schreffler, the election did have meaning behind it.

“I think students should have a say in our president,” Schreffler said.

Unlike some students, Schreffler voted for one of the candidates on the ballot instead of writing in another name to make the ballot ineligible to be counted.

“Many people have died for their right to vote, so why wouldn’t I use mine,” Schreffler said.

The students running the election tried to make the process as real as possible. The decision was made for students to be required to have a current student ID to vote, which made the mock election more like the actual election. This was a problem for some students because many didn’t have their IDs.

“I think it would be better if you didn’t need your ID for voting,” Schreffler said.

Students learned how the real election would flow, and gained a experience that will help them when it comes time to vote in the presidential election.

“I will be voting in the presidential election,” newspaper advisor Kelly Glasscock said. “When I go cast my vote, I will be required to present my ID.”

Just like the presidential election not everything went off without problems, a missing day or even a mis-count, elections are not perfect.

“We missed one day of elections and had to go to the students’ classrooms instead of going to the gym” Sanabria said. “Which was much better and teachers said they liked that a lot more.”

With shorter advisories and such a big school, the students had to hurry and get in and out of the gym when casting their vote.

“I felt pressured and that I was being rushed,” Schreffler said.

He had high hopes of seeing President Obama win the election this year.

“He addresses things more directly; he doesn’t beat around the bush,” Schreffler said.

Over all the election was a success, all the votes were counted and if it were up to Derby High, Mitt Romney would be taking over the oval office.

-Vanessa Cook