Gilman’s Very Own Election

On Wednesday, October 30, the ninth-grade American Government class hosted a Mock 2024 Election in which Upper School students and faculty voted for president and senator. Democrat Kamala Harris won our presidential race, and Republican Larry Hogan won the senatorial one. The following Monday, the class gave a presentation during assembly detailing the workings of the American electoral college and the results of Gilman’s mock election for the Upper School student body.

This election year, American Government teacher Aaron Slutkin ‘17 decided to make the most of this quadrennial opportunity to immerse his students in the United States electoral system. The mock general election followed our electoral college system. Their model categorized students by advisories, where each student vote would contribute to their advisor’s department (or state). Then, Mr. Slutkin’s class counted the votes for each department, which acts like a state. Whichever candidate has the most votes wins the electoral votes for that department. In total, 276 electoral votes were split among 12 departments, with larger departments like English having 44 electoral votes, and smaller departments like Learning Support only having 9 electoral votes. The American Government class decided on the electoral votes based on the size of each department, with departments that have more students having more electoral votes. On the other hand, the senatorial election was much more straightforward: the candidate who won the popular vote won the seat. Turnout was 87.9%—72 students or faculty declined to vote.

Taking a deeper dive into the numbers, out of the 276 electoral votes of all the departments, Kamala Harris won 225 electoral college votes, while Donald Trump won 51 votes. Trump only won History’s 41 electoral votes and Athletics’ 10. The popular vote results appear much less one-sided than the electoral landslide: Harris won 56.4% to Trump’s 38.5%.

On the other hand, the senatorial vote between Larry Hogan and Angela Alsobrooks showed Hogan winning 62% of the votes and Angela Alsobrooks winning 38% of the votes. Interestingly, despite voting Democratically for the president, Gilman preferred the Republican candidate for the Senate.

So, how do the Gilman election results compare to Maryland’s election outcome? The way Gilman students and faculty voted seemed to reflect that of Maryland’s population, which had 61.7% of votes going to Harris and 35.7% to Trump. Our choice for the Senatorial Race seems to be vastly different, as 53.4% of Maryland voters opted for Alsobrooks, and 44.3% voted for Hogan. Gilman’s students and faculty supported Hogan much more than Maryland’s population did.

This mock election gives Gilman students a perfect opportunity to learn more about elections and their importance to American society. When asked about his experience running the Mock Election, American Government student Andrew Guan ‘28 said, “I got to learn about the history of the United States.” Elections are crucial to our democracy, giving citizens the power to shape the direction of our country and emphasizing the importance of everyone’s voices.