Enumclaw students favor Obama, McKenna

According to results released Friday, 326 students in the city cast ballots in the Mock Election, with 324 coming from grades six through 12. The students voted on the presidential race the gubernatorial race and several initiatives.

The results are in and if were up to the students of Enumclaw, Barack Obama would remain in the White House, but Rob McKenna would take over in Olympia as school kids in Enumclaw split their ticket in this year’s Mock Election, hosted by the secretary of state’s office.

According to results released Friday, 326 students in the city cast ballots in the Mock Election, with 324 coming from grades six through 12. The students voted on the presidential race the gubernatorial race and several initiatives.

In the presidential race, 54.13 percent of the students voting selected President Obama as their pick with 45.87 choosing Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Statewide, 69 percent of students chose Obama over Romney.

But showing a bit of a bipartisan streak, the numbers reversed in the governor’s race, where McKenna, the Republican, took home 51.32 percent of the votes to Democrat Jay Inslee’s 48.68.

Inslee fared better statewide, however, winning a 57 percent majority of all student voters.

Students also voted on Initiative 1240, regarding charter schools, rejecting the measure by a more than two-to-one margin, with 69.87 percent of Enumclaw students voting it down. Statewide, students narrowly approved the measure with 51 percent voting in the affirmative.

The Referendum 74 vote, on same-sex marriage, passed in Enumclaw with 55.36 percent of the student vote, below the statewide approval numbers of 67 percent voting to allow sex-same couple to marry.

Finally, students in Enumclaw and across the state voted down Initiative 502, which would legalize and tax marijuana. Enumclaw students rejected the measure with a huge margin of 70.59 percent to only 29.41 in favor. Statewide, the results were closer, but 51 percent still rejected legalization.

In total, 38,848 students took part in the election, a record-shattering turnout. The previous record was 18,000, set in 2008.

“I’m really impressed with the huge increase in the number of students voting in this year’s Mock Election!” said Secretary of State Sam Reed in a press release. “A big thank you to the teachers and students in our state for their participation in this year’s Mock Election. It’s important to promote civic engagement and informed future voters in our state, and the Mock Election is a great way to do that.”

This is the ninth year that the Office of Secretary of State has conducted the Mock Election.