In Mount Si High School’s mock election, Democrat Barack Obama won the U.S. presidency by a landslide, while Republican Dino Rossi took the Washington governor’s race by a narrower margin.

The election was part of a nationwide exercise intended to promote understanding of the American electoral process and encourage students to inform themselves about current events. Students in Kim Sales’ Criminal Justice class and Lisa Truemper’s Contemporary Issues courses served as “elections officials,” administering the vote and ensuring that the balloting process went off without a hitch.

During second period Halloween morning, all students were invited to vote, and also completed a worksheet about the electoral process. Each class was assigned a number of electoral votes based on its population, and Sales and Truemper tallied the popular and electoral college results over the weekend.

Obama took the electoral college of “The United Classes of Mount Si,” earning 309.5 electoral votes versus McCain’s 40.5. Of the 1,412 students who cast their ballots for president, 846 picked Obama, 501 opted for McCain, 40 went to Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, and 25 chose another candidate.

In the gubernatorial contest, Rossi edged out incumbent Democrat Chris Gregoire, 770-633.

Initial results were posted on Mount Si’s Web site Monday morning. The classes planned to further analyze the figures, breaking them down by grade level and gender.

Elections official and senior Dom Catanzaro, who turned 18 on Halloween and planned to vote in the general election, said the mock election was particularly cathartic for students too young to participate in the real deal.

“There are a lot of people that have a lot opinions in this school that don’t get to vote in the actual election, so I think this is a good way for people to practice voting and show their opinions,” he said.