Express yourself!
The Class of '05 and the race for the White House 

From the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors 

What do Pennsylvania's young people think about this presidential campaign? 

Would they vote for George Bush or John Kerry? Who or what is influencing their opinion? Where are they getting their information? Are they caught up in the excitement of this heated campaign or have they tuned it out? 

The Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors and Pennsylvania Newspaper Association want to find out.

So we're asking students to vote sort of. 

We're asking newspapers to select a sampling of high schools in their circulation area to hold mock presidential elections, which would be open to their senior classes only. Voting should take place before Oct. 13 and can be conducted in any way the school prefers. Seniors would vote for either John Kerry or George Bush. 

Results from your mock elections should be sent to Dino Ciliberti at the (Pottsville) Republican & Herald by Oct. 13. 

His staff will compile a story papers can use to chart these mock elections across the state. He'll need: 

• The vote tally by school, including how many students are in the senior class and how many actually voted. 

• The county where the school is located. 

• Some anecdotal material like a few good quotes, or whether there was a campaign for the kids' vote. 

Papers are also encouraged to e-mail Dino a great photo to share with others. 

We want to get as many Pennsylvania dailies and weeklies involved as possible. Papers can do as many or as few schools as they wish but should choose schools to provide geographic and demographic balance. 

Papers can run the results of their specific high school votes at any time. 
The payoff? 

A story on young Pennsylvanians and the election, written by the Republican & Herald, will be sent to participating papers on Oct. 18. It is embargoed until Oct. 20 to accommodate publication schedules. 

Questions? 
Contact Dino at dciliberti@republicanherald.com or by phone at (570) 622-3456

Contact Cate Barron of The Patriot-News at cbarron@pnco.com or by phone at (717) 255-8165.