Interest is high around this year's presidential contest, and schools and libraries are giving kids a chance to get involved. First through sixth graders at Presbyterian Day School (PDS) in Memphis, TN, participated in the National Mock Election on Thursday, October 30. Cindy Brock, Lower Elementary Technology Coach at PDS, set up several laptops to function as voting stations, with classes coming by at assigned times to cast their ballots. Prior to voting, students registered and received voter registration cards. After making their selection for president, students, as well as faculty and staff who also participated, each received a sticker declaring that they voted at PDS, a PK-6 all-boy independent school. Second grade classes helped decorate the hallways with pumpkins painted red, white, and blue, Brock reported by email. These younger students also functioned as poll workers and instructed their peers on where to vote. "Overall, this was a great experience for our students, faculty, and staff," she wrote. "The students took the voting very seriously and were excited to be placing their vote." Meanwhile, things are gearing up at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch of Cuyahoga County (OH) Public Library, where voting will take place on Election Day November 4. Teen librarian Adrienne Strock, who is co-advisor of the Student Friends of the Library wrote, "We have a large after school crowd, and our teens do not have school that day, so we want to see who is dedicated enough to the student friends group to come out and vote, just like most Americans do on Election Day." Amy Bowllan, the Director of Diversity and Educational Technology at the Hewitt School in New York City and SLJ blogger is also heading up a voting exercise. Students at Hewitt, an all girls K-12 school, will visit the polls in the library on Nov. 4. Prior to having students cast their votes online, Bowllan asked teachers to review the official New York state candidates' list—there are seven in all—including third party candidates "who receive little to no media attention," she wrote. Arvind Grover, Hewitt's technology director, had pushed to have them included. According to Strock, 13 kids in South Euclid participated in a debate on Wednesday, including one wearing a tie and toting note cards, with several students bidding for office themselves. The event featured "campaign smearing, evasion of issues, and a few made up words, much like real-world politics," she says.