DECATUR - In a far corner of the Johns Hill Magnet School library, a white board was turned to face a shelf of books, while three boys worked busily behind it, concealed from the long lines of children filing in to cast their vote for president.

"We're keeping a running tally," said Kim Miller, who teaches seventh- and eighth-grade social studies. "We're keeping it hidden so we don't influence their votes."

All of the school's 480-plus students had a chance to register to vote two weeks ago, and Monday was the big election day. As students entered the library in orderly lines, a table of election judges waited to confirm registrations, find the young voters on their lists and hand out ballots. After voting, students received real "I voted!" stickers donated by Macon County Clerk Steve Bean.

Part of the reason for holding the school's election a day earlier than the country's, Miller said, was so children would go home fired up and remind their parents to vote today.

Each homeroom counted as one electoral college vote, making 20 in all, Miller said. The seventh-grade students are going to use the vote tallies to create statistical charts in their math classes.

Seventh-grade students were divided into Republicans and Democrats, who researched their candidate and made lists of pertinent facts about them. They made campaign posters and handled the voter registration, manned the election judge positions and stumped for their party's man.

"Campaigning is hard," said Devin Smeltzer, who would likely find kindred spirits in the two candidates' camps after one of the longest campaigns in American memory.

Participating in this hands-on look at the election whetted his interest in politics, Devin said. He's taking a much closer look at the process and the candidates as a result, even though it's about six years until he'll be able to vote.

Classmate Sarah Peters, on the other hand, isn't quite as fascinated, she said.

Garfield Montessori School also held a mock election on Monday, with many of the same components used at Johns Hill. At both schools, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama was the clear winner, with more than 60 percent of the vote at Garfield and 76 percent at Johns Hill.

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