While their parents were pondering who to vote for in the general election Tuesday, students at Cedar Heights Middle School and Crestwood Elementary School have been learning about the importance of voting.

Cedar Heights students participated in a mock election process during the weeks leading up to the real one, including discussion, creation of campaign commercials for the presidential candidates, and a visit by Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed last week.

The day before the general election, Crestwood students participated in a debate during an assembly about what the school’s mascot should be as part of a lesson on the role of voting in society.

Reed, who oversees elections for the state, told seventh and eighth-grade students at Cedar Heights that he appreciated “what you’re doing here” in the mock election, and he hoped they would take those lessons on into adulthood.

“Only 53.6 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds are registered to vote, which is a travesty because young people have more at stake,” Reed said. “You know what a lot of 18-year-olds say? ‘I’m not really sure what I’m doing, so maybe I should wait until I’m older.’ Many people register to vote when they have a mortgage and are paying property taxes or they have children.”

Young people often tell elections researchers they don’t see the value in one person’s vote, Reed said, but he cited the close race for governor in 2004 between Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi which was decided by 130 votes.

“The second excuse young people give is ‘I just don’t know enough,’” Reed said. “In this day and age with the Internet, it isn’t a legitimate excuse.”

And, he said, using the Internet to learn more about candidates will deflate another excuse youth voters often have: That all politicians are the same.

“The more you know about these candidates the more you’re realize there’s a difference,” Reed said. “One thing I want to suggest to you is you can volunteer to help with elections and with candidates’ campaigns. You can likely influence more people through volunteering.”

Reed, who was re-elected Tuesday, explained to the students that when he first ran in 2000, he was nervous on election day.

Being a candidate “takes a lot of work,” Reed said. “It comes down to one day. And it’s up to the voters. Election day can drag on here in Washington.”

After Reed finished his presentation and answered questions, seventh-grade social studies teacher Justin Maier showed a pair of campaign commercials students had made. Then some students signed up for the mock election online.

Maier explained that the idea behind the commercials was to help the kids take math concepts and apply them to real world situations. Students polled their classmates on a question related to the presidential campaign then used the data in their commercials.

During Crestwood’s assembly, Covington Mayor Margaret Harto talked about the decisionmaking process of elected officials, as well as the power of one person’s vote..

“Voting is important,” Harto said. “The vote you didn’t cast is a vote against something you would’ve voted for. So celebrate America and celebrate our freedoms.”

A debate has been raging at Crestwood about what should be the school’s mascot. Its current mascot is the cobra, but since the school’s successful campaign to get the dragonfly named the state insect in 1997, Crestwood has become synonymous with dragonflies and there has been a push to make the school’s mascot reflect that.

The cobra is tough, Travis Beerden said in his effort to influence his classmates’ vote.

“The first year Crestwood was open, all the students voted for the cobra over the other mascots,” Beerden said.

Rachelle Mayes took a different approach. She interviewed eight teachers, “and six of them said they wanted the dragonfly” as the mascot, while Spencer Kim explained more people identify Crestwood with the dragonfly.

“Some people even say the school is shaped like a dragonfly,” Kim said.

After the students on both sides had their say, fifth-grader Isaac Hegamin encouraged his classmates to participate in the voting process for the mascot.

“Your vote is your voice, so why let others speak for you,” Hegamin said. “You should vote because every vote counts.”

Staff writer Kris Hill can be reached at (425) 432-1209 (extension 5054) and khill@reporternewspapers.com