Following March 3’s “Super Tuesday,” which signified the state primaries in California and 13 other states, Venice High held its own mock election for many senior students on Monday, March 9, throughout the school day.

Hosted near the new covered cafeteria, the event, sponsored by the LA County Elections Division, was “meant to help students understand how much their vote matters,” said a representative. 

Students listened to a short presentation from representatives of the Elections office and were able to register or pre-register to vote, depending if they were 16 or 17 or over 18. Those who registered were walked through the process step-by-step, with those from the County paying special attention to students who may not be U.S. citizens or members of a particular political party, intending to help everyone in the voting process.

Afterwards, students were able to cast ballots on a variety of issues, but especially on ones directly pertaining to them, such as Measure EE (from June 2019) and others that pertain to how funds should be allocated to benefit students. 

“I am really glad that Venice hosted something like this,” said senior Jasmine Vela, who even pre-registered before voting. “I hope it is opened up to other grade levels in the future so that more students can practice what it will be like in the real world. Events like these have a really positive effect on young people making decisions and acting on them.”

Placing heavy emphasis on measures and issues that directly affect residents, the representatives from the County pushed hard for voter participation and hoped this event would help in that. The results of the election were not available at press time.