For Students

All students attending New Jersey schools are eligible to vote in the 2009 New Jersey Student/Parent Mock Election.

The New Jersey Mock Election is part of the National Student/Parent Mock Election, which is operated throughout the United States as a voter-education program.

The purpose of the Mock Election is to teach the nation's youth about the importance of voting in our democratic society and to make it possible for them to express their opinions on a ballot similar to one that will be used in the General Election the first Tuesday of November.

The official date of the Mock Election is October 29, 2009. New Jersey students will be able to vote in their schools on or before October 29.

The National Student/Parent Mock Election is free for everybody ... students, parents, teachers, and schools. This is a voter education project that hopes to get a large number of students to participate and to learn about the importance of voting from teachers and parents.

The Mock Election includes students who attend public, private, parochial, charter or other schools, including home-schooled students.

The school's Mock Election Coordinator will print ballots for your school and distribute them to teachers on or before October 29.

It is OK if a student declines to vote for any candidate or issue and it is OK for a student not to participate in the Mock Election. If a student wants to vote only for selected parts of the ballot, that is OK.

The ballot that will be sent to your school's Mock Election Coordinator will be in English.  However, if someone in your school wants to prepare a ballot in one or more other languages, that is OK. That ballot must follow the same format as the English ballot so the election coordinator can total the votes easily and send the school's results in to the national Mock Election headquarters by 4 p.m. on October 29.

Parents are encouraged to help their children as they prepare homework exercises, essays and other projects related to the Mock Election. Working through the school's Parent Teacher Association, for example, parents may be invited to prepare banners and posters for the school to establish school-wide enthusiasm for the Mock Election. Also, parents may be invited to come to class with their children on or before October 29 to help with the election. Keep in mind that parents also are eligible to vote in the Mock Election and their votes should be counted and reported along with the votes of students.