If students of Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) have their way, Democrat Alex Sink would be Florida’s next governor. In mock elections held online, more than 30,000 Orange County students voted by a margin of 57 percent for Sink over Republican Rick Scott who garnered 43 percent of the students’ votes. The OCPS students also selected Kendrick Meek as the winner in the race for U.S. Senate.
But, it’s a much different outcome than the actual results of Florida voters in the November 2, elections where Republican Marco Rubio won convincingly the U.S. Senate race and Republican Rick Scott will take the reigns of office to become Florida’s next governor in January 2011.
Students in dozens of schools voted in conjunction with Kids Voting USA. For the first time in school history, the mock election was held online.
The complete election results district-wide are in the table below:
| Orange County Schools 2010 Results | |||
| U.S. Senate Florida | |||
| Name | Party | Votes | Pct |
| Kendrick Meek | DEM | 12,951 | 38.25% |
| Marco Rubio | REP | 11,855 | 35.01% |
| Charlie Crist | NPA | 9,055 | 26.74% |
| Governor | |||
| Name | Party | Votes | Pct |
| Alex Sink | DEM | 19,111 | 57.12% |
| Rick Scott | REP | 14,346 | 42.88% |
| Florida Attorney General | |||
| Name | Party | Votes | Pct |
| Pam Bondi | REP | 20,094 | 60.20% |
| Dan Gelber | DEM | 9,642 | 28.89% |
| Jim Lewis | NPA | 3,640 | 10.91% |
| Orange County Mayor | |||
| Name | Party | Votes | Pct |
| Bill Segal | n/a | 17,329 | 52.30% |
| Teresa Jacobs | n/a | 15,806 | 47.70% |
| Do you think smaller classes make it easier to learn ? | |||
| Name | Votes | Pct | |
| Yes | 23,003 | 67.03% | |
| No | 11,314 | 32.97% | |
| Do you think voting is important ? | |||
| Name | Votes | Pct | |
| Yes | 31,269 | 90.83% | |
| No | 3,156 | 9.17% | |
| Did you discuss the elections with your parents ? | |||
| Name | Votes | Pct | |
| No | 20,160 | 58.68% | |
| Yes | 14,196 | 41.32% | |
| Was the election discussed at your school ? | |||
| Name | Votes | Pct | |
| Yes | 24,818 | 72.19% | |
| No | 9,563 | 27.81% | |
| Do you go with your parents to vote ? | |||
| Name | Votes | Pct | |
| No | 26,196 | 75.96% | |
| Yes | 8,290 | 24.04% | |
