WITH the country gearing up for local and European elections this Friday, one West Cork school decided to embrace their democratic duties and hold their own mock election in their school.
The student council in Ballygarvan National School wanted to show the senior classes how elections work and organised a mock election, based on the candidates standing in the local elections in the Carrigaline area.
Speaking to The Southern Star, teacher Tríona Ní Annracháin said this was their first time running such an election, involving 180 pupils from third class up to sixth class.
‘They contacted all 10 candidates who are contesting seats in that electoral area and told them about their planned mock election. Most of the candidates sent us video messages to help the students decide which candidate deserved their votes. We also put up posters around the school for each candidate too,’ said Tríona.
She said all the pupils really engaged in the process and became very invested in taking notes from the video messages and taking time to decide on each vote.
They ran the mock election on Tuesday in the school while the members of the student council ran the ballot and supervised the voting process and took their jobs very seriously.
‘We had lists of all eligible voters, ballot papers with all the candidates listed and stickers for all who voted in the election. We are eagerly awaiting the results of our ballot to see how the votes of the students compare with the local election results, which will be revealed this weekend.’
‘It has really helped all the pupils in the school understand the whole election process and talk to their parents and families about their votes on Friday too.’ They plan to count the votes on Thursday, the day before the ‘real’ election.
There are six seats available in the Carrigaline area, with 10 candidates hoping to secure a seat in Cork County Council which include two Fine Gael – Cllr Jack White and Cllr Una McCarthy, two Fianna Fáil – Cllr Audrey Buckley and Cllr Seamus McGrath, Monica Oikeh (Green Party), John O’Regan (Labour), Richard Terry (Social Democrats), Eoghan Fahy (Sinn Féin), Cllr Ben Dalton O’Sullivan (Ind) and Chris O’Brien (Ind).
