Hillary or Trump? That is the question everyone was asking themselves as they sat down in room 50 earlier today to vote for the president of the United States and Florida’s senatorial seat. Even though people under the age of 18 are not able to vote, The Benjamin School had an election of their own so the student’s opinions could be made known. After hearing their fellow students debate the policies and platforms of the Republican and Democratic parties last week, it was time for the students to make an informed vote. On the morning of Tuesday, October 25, the students quickly  “registered” to vote (substitute Ms. Maria Arencibia sat at a desk outside room 50 and checked off the students’ names as they filed in). They then sat at one of the six computers in Mr. Crisafi’s room to make their presidential and senatorial selections via an online ballot. The ballot was created via Google forms and each computer was shielded by cardboard carrels on either side to ensure that the students’ votes were confidential.

A total of 218 students in grades six through eight voted, and although both Grand Old Party (Republican) candidates won, the presidential vote was closer that the senatorial one. With 54.6% of the vote,

Donald Trump triumphed over Hillary Clinton (45.4%). In addition, Marco Rubio won in a landslide as he garnered 66.1% of the vote to Patrick Murphy’s 33.9%. Will the Sunshine State and the rest of America vote the same way? We’ll have to wait until November 8 to know for sure. However, even though their votes don’t count, Benjamin’s middle school students can be proud of the fact that they did a great job in participating in this year’s election and learning more about our nation’s political process.