ARIZONA STUDENTS CHOOSE OBAMA, MCCAIN AS TOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: Over 92,000 Kids Vote in Presidential Preference Election

February 5, 2008
Contact: Lara Slifko
Tel: (602) 340-7235
Cell: (602) 481-5082

[Phoenix, AZ] Students from nearly 500 schools cast their vote in the Kids Voting Arizona Presidential Preference Election. With most participating schools reporting, Democratic Senator Barack Obama and GOP Senator John McCain are the top choices of Arizona’s Kindergarten through 12th grade students.

Kyra Wilson, a fourth grader at Marshall Ranch Elementary School in Glendale said, “Voting is important so that everyone’s opinion is heard. I wanted to vote so that my candidate can have a chance to be President. The United States wouldn't run well without a leader.” Kyra voted online with her parents, yesterday.

Nearly one third of the 92,000 Kids Voting AZ ballots were cast online in addition to the ballots tabulated at school sites and at Kids Voting AZ headquarters. Obama led all the candidates in total votes cast, receiving almost 34,000 votes. John McCain led his closest Republican opponent, Mitt Romney by almost 9,000 votes.

“An extraordinary number of Arizona schoolchildren experienced democracy first-hand today by casting a ballot in the Kids Voting Presidential Preference Election,” said Jeffrey Schrade, Senior Director for Kids Voting Arizona. “In fact, we had nearly 690,000 hits on the Kids Voting AZ website today and our servers had a tough time keeping up! We hope that kids will vote again in the General Election November 4th.”

Kids Voting Arizona provides its hands-on curriculum free to all Arizona schools that ask for it. The curriculum, when coupled with family exercises and an opportunity to vote in a Kids Voting election, has been shown to increase adult turnout by as much as 5%. Over 1 million votes have been cast by Arizona’s youngest citizens since Kids Voting Arizona started in 1988.

Helpful Websites: Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education
Kids Voting USA