Mock US Election Event

To boost the whole school’s interest in recent political events, the SCIE Politics Club launched the Mock US Election event. Students from the entire school had voted from one of the presidential candidates last week in PSHE class, and today, on November the 3rd, the result of who was elected by SCIE staff and students would be announced. Club members waited in anticipation whilst enjoying American fast food provided by the school’s caterers and Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen  playing in the background

The event started by the “political expert” Brian from the Politics Club introducing how the presidential election worked, including  the electoral college system and the electoral timeline. This consists of four stages, the caucus and primary, the national party convention, and the general election. Meanwhile, the electoral college system promised a mechanism of “winner-takes-all”, which resulted in 2000 and 2016 candidates losing even with the majority of popular votes, but lacking adequate electoral votes （270）.

The event moved on, with club members as count assistants counting the votes from each state. On the screen, a blank US map was to be filled. Members announced the results as soon as they finished counting one form, gradually colouring the map with blues and reds. It was exciting.

The consequence was rather astonishing, and a bit unexpected, since that to a certain extent, unmatched the forecasted reality. The conservative state of Texas went to Democrat Joe Biden, while Donald Trump won liberal California. Some students also chose to vote for independent parties, such as * and even “aliens” or abstaining from their votes. As the voting consequence was unveiled for each state, Democrats and Republican “supporters” from the club clapped and cheered for their parties. In contrast, members representing Trump and Biden with their masks responded in an appropriate manner, respectively, to every result declared. 

The event ended with Biden’s victory with a great majority of 381 electoral votes, compared to Donald Trump’s 157. Two representatives “candidates” delivered short speeches, either expressing sincere thanks for support or condemning the opponent candidate for “incapable of making America great again”.