CRESTLINE – Major League Baseball players have reported for spring training.
While baseball weren’t flying around the classroom, there were a couple of big hits recently in a Crestline Elementary fifth-grade classroom.
First to step to the plate was Crestline mayor Gloria McDonald. On deck Monday was Pat Armstrong from the Crawford County Board of Elections.
The two special guests discussed voting, how elections work and what it takes to become an elected official, among other things. Some students even had the opportunity to cast votes using an actual voter registration recorder provided by Armstrong.
The events supplemented a social studies unit being taught by Cory Forshaw on Democracy.
Students in Forshaw’s fifth-grade classes have all registered to vote, some are running to become elected officials – class president, treasurer and secretary – and everyone will participate in a mock Primary Election on March 15.
The Crestline mayor fielded questions from student facilitator Evan Hall, discussing the requirements it took for her to reach office. She also shared some of her goals.
“We had have a lot of turnover in the last 10 years,” McDonald said. “Right now I’m trying to get everyone to work together. We would like to bring some new businesses to town because if you can do that you will bring jobs with them.
“We’ve been trying to bring a grocery store back to town for several years. The Geyer’s building is up for sale, but the problem is that the owner has a clause in the deal that whoever purchases the building can’t make it into a grocery store.”
Armstrong began her presentation by giving a brief history on voting. She discussed how the polls work, different ways of voting, how precincts are divided and then turned to her closer in the bullpen – her recording machine.
Several students had the opportunity to try out the machine. Some included: Blayne Cremeans, Chelsea Clark, Ashton Germann, Lilyan Schwan, Majestica Beck, Dillan Woodard and Kaylie Thompson.
It proved to be popular.
“I will definitely vote when I’m old enough,” Cremeans said. “I thought it would be a lot harder using the machine, but really it was pretty easy.”
Armstrong said the Board of Elections has been using the electronic machine for nearly 10 years and some of the worries voters had when the change was made have been avoided.
“A lot of the older voters were afraid of the technology at first,” She said. “I don’t think a lot of people realized how many items around their house work in a similar fashion. Microwaves, a lot of our phones today – anything really where you are touching a screen to make it work.”
Students will continue learning about the Democratic process leading up to their “season-opener” – Election Day on March 15.
