mock election, louisiana, school children, Obama, Romney - KNOE 8 News; KNOE-TV; KNOE.com |

BATON ROUGE, La., (KNOE 8 News) – President Barack Obama emerged as the candidate of choice for high school students from across the state who gathered to celebrate Vote Dat!, Louisiana's 2012 Presidential Mock Elections, sponsored by the Secretary of State's Office and Cox Communications.

Approximately 88,600 K-12 students from 280 public, private and home schools in 55 of 64 parishes cast a vote in the mock election. President Obama was "re-elected" by a margin of 51.29% (Obama) to 48.71(Romney).

West Monroe High School Senior, Hamilton Winters and West Ouachita High School Senior, Ayanna Griffin were chosen by Superintendent Dr. Bob Webber to represent Ouachita Parish at the event. Both of their schools participated in the Mock Elections.

"We are so proud of our students and educators from across Louisiana for making this Mock Election a huge success," said Secretary of State Tom Schedler. "This event is a great way to inspire our state's youth to become active, life-long voters."

The mock election is a process allowing students to vote for one of two presidential candidates without having their vote count in the "official election." Voting was conducted through the Internet, with school computers acting as voting booths.