In a mock election held during lunch waves on Tuesday, Nov. 1, Bedford Middle School students chose Hilary Clinton to be the next president of the United States.  She earned 55.3 percent of the vote, defeating Donald Trump who finished a distant second with 24.4 percent of the vote.

Voting was brisk on Tuesday. Eighty-three percent of students casted a vote for one of the five candidates. Clinton’s strongest support came from six graders; 63.3 percent of the school’s youngest voters felt that she should be the 45th president.

“This election is designed to show students how voting works and how important voting is,” said social studies aide Marta Clanton. Ms. Clanton and all the social studies teachers have been working for the past day and a half to tabulate the nearly 700 votes done by Scantron and counted in the Grade 8 teacher prep room.

Clinton’s victory matches recent strong BMS polling data conducted by “Ursus” on its website.  In that poll, Clinton won 78 percent of the votes cast.  Her biggest competition was from write-in candidates.

Clinton also defeated Trump in Marshwood Middle School’s election in Eliot, Maine, in a much tighter election: 189 votes for Clinton to Trump’s 162.

But Trump middle schools are out there.  At Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Trump defeated Clinton.  Fifty-seven percent of students voted for Trump in the Western Pennsylvania town.

The real election is this Tuesday, Nov. 8.