Some Lauderdale County students, who participated in a mock election sponsored by the Meridian Civitan Club to promote good citizenship, chose Donald Trump as the nation’s next president. 

Northeast Lauderdale and Lamar students in ninth and 10th grades voted in the mock election. Trump received 53 percent of the 267 votes cast.

“By participating in this special project we hope that students will be encouraged to exercise their right to vote when they are legally registered,” said Jeffrey Rhett, the project coordinator for the club.

None of the students who voted will be eligible to vote in the 2016 election, but many can legally vote in the 2020 elections. 

Northeast Lauderdale cast 184 of the votes, with the following results: Hillary Clinton/ Tim Kaine, 66 votes, 36 percent; Donald Trump/ Michael Pence, 84 votes, 46 percent; Darrell Castle/ Scott N. Bradley, 8 votes, 4 percent; ‘Rocky’ Roque De La Fuente/ Michael Steinberg, 10 votes, 5 percent; Jim Hedges/ Bill Bayes, 1 vote, 1 percent; Gary Johnson/ Bill Weld, 10 votes, 5 percent; and Jill Stein/ Ajamu Baraka, 5 votes, 3 percent.

Lamar School cast 83 votes with the following results: Clinton/ Kaine, 19 votes, 23 percent; Trump/ Pence, 58 votes, 70 percent; Castle/ Bradley, 1 vote, 1 percent; Johnson/ Weld, 3 votes, 4 percent; and Stein/ Baraka, 2 votes, 2 percent. 

“I thought the results were surprising. When we did this four years ago it was a little more predictable,” Rhett said on the number of votes for third-party candidates. “Not that many people know about these candidates.

“We just hope that by doing this project they’ll vote when they’re legally registered,” Rhett said.