If next week's presidential election were left up to Virginia middle and high-school students, Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R) would defeat Vice President Al Gore (D).
Bush triumphed in the Youth Leadership Initiative's online mock election, a program spearheaded by the University's Center for Governmental Studies to further its goal of involving middle and high-school students in the fundamentals of the American political process.
Students also chose former Gov. George Allen (R) over Sen. Chuck Robb (D) in the Virginia Senate Race.
A total of 36,756 students from the Commonwealth voted in the mock election. About 51 percent of the vote went to Bush and 40 percent of the vote went to Gore. Bush received 18,966 votes and Gore received 14,640 votes. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader received 2,199 votes, or about 6 percent of total votes cast.
Allen received 57 percent of the vote, with 19,806 votes, while Robb received 43 percent and 14,965 tallies.
Center Chief of Staff Alex Theodoridis said he thinks the results may be skewed Republican because of the particular sampling of students.
Pundits have said Virginia voters will almost definitely favor Bush in next week's election.
"Unfortunately, there are still digital divide issues. For some schools, there may be more pressing things than participating in a program like this," Theodoridis said, adding that all parts of the electorate may not have been fully represented in the sample.
He said the program did have a "remarkable number of students from inner-city schools and rural schools participating."
The real winners in the mock election were not Bush and Allen, but the students, he added.
Theodoridis said he thought the large student turnout, with 65 percent of registered students voting, might serve to encourage current students to participate in politics and continue voting in the future.
The large turnout was the highlight for many of the organizers.
"We're thrilled. This is the largest Internet mock election in American history and the largest election on the Internet of any kind," said Larry J. Sabato, Center director and University government and foreign affairs professor.
About 11,000 students participated in the Initiative's online mock election last fall, and the Center has high hopes for expanding the project in the coming years.
The project is available to each middle and high school in the Commonwealth, and Theodoridis said by the year 2004 they hope to have every school in America able to participate.
"Just as the Commonwealth led the way when our democracy was first founded, Virginia is now leading the way toward a revitalized democratic process in the 21st century," he said.
The Initiative's Mock Election votes also will count in the nationwide Youth-e-Vote.
Students also were able to vote in their local congressional races. In the race for the local Fifth District U.S. House of Representatives seat, incumbent Rep. Virgil Goode (I) defeated challenger John Boyd (D) in the Internet mock election.
Goode received 1,309 votes for nearly 50 percent of the total, while Boyd received 1,023 votes, coming in at about 39 percent. The other Independent candidate, Joseph S. Spence, received 11 percent of the vote with 302 votes.
Students mainly participated by voting in their school, although a few students chose to vote at home, Theodoridis said.
He said the mock election had password protections to ensure "one student, one vote."
Theodoridis said the Youth Leadership Initiative hosts programs all year long in order to increase student interest in the political process.
"Just as being a citizen is a yearlong endeavor, youth leadership is a yearlong program," he said.
As part of the election ballot, students also logged their opinions on what issues are most important to the future of the United States.
Over 15,000 students, or 51 percent of participants, selected crime and violence as the most pressing issue facing the nation. About 25 percent said education was the most important, with 13 percent choosing the decline of moral and ethical behavior.
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