LEHMAN TWP. — Hillary Clinton won the presidential election on Tuesday with 32 votes.

Donald Trump received 25 votes.

The results were read off a polling machine’s tally tape by Luzerne County Election Director Marisa Crispell and drew cheers and leers from the 57 second-graders who participated in Lehman-Jackson Elementary School’s mock presidential election.

The hands-on lesson about the election process gave teachers an opportunity to tie in current events with the school’s curriculum.

“We wanted to bring in ‘real world’ experience into the classroom,” said Reagan Hynick, a second-grade teacher at the school.

Crispell brought a computerized voting machine into the classroom to show students what their parents do when they vote.

Three classes filed into the room where Crispell was setting up the voting machine and loading the presidential ballot.

“How many of you have gone to vote with your parents?” Hynick asked the group.

Less than half raised their hands.

The students learned that every voter has to register before the election and then sign a book at a designated polling place.

“I did not know my parents had to register or fill out papers before voting,” said 8-year-old Sara Womach.

Every polling center receives a book of registered voters for that area, Crispell said. The number of electors’ signatures should match the total number of ballots cast through the machines, she said.

“We have 180 districts and over 200,000 registered voters,” she said.

Crispell explained polling centers could have between two and 10 voting machines. Every polling center has a volunteer in charge of printing a “zero tape” from every voting machine before the polls open at 7 a.m. on Nov. 8, she said.

The “zero tape” signifies no votes were placed on the machine, Crispell said.

“This (paper print out) is posted at the polling place showing the voting machines received no votes stored before the election starts,” she said.

Before voting, the children lined up and took their handmade voting registration cards to a table where they had to sign their name. Then they stood in line for their opportunity to vote.

The 7- and 8-year-olds discussed which candidate they were going to pick while they waited for their turn.

Whispers of “Why are you voting for Trump or Clinton?” could be heard.

Kate Hynick, 7, based her decision on the candidate with the nicest personality.

Alex Smith made his decision on what he saw on the news and conversations his parents had at home.

Neither Smith or Hynick were willing to share their choice of candidates.

Betsy DiGiovanni, 7, was surprised to see other names besides Clinton and Trump on the ballot.

Reagan Hynick said they had discussed the third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein in class but not in detail.

For other students such as Paige Rambus, 7, the opportunity to see a voting machine up close was “really cool.”

“I never saw one so close before,” Rambus said.

Marisa Crispell, the election director at the Luzerne Country Election Bureau, helps second-grader Alexa Thompson, 8, vote while other students wait for their turn at Lehman-Jackson Elementary School in Lehman Township on Tuesday.
http://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_TTL102516Voting1-1.jpg.optimal.jpgMarisa Crispell, the election director at the Luzerne Country Election Bureau, helps second-grader Alexa Thompson, 8, vote while other students wait for their turn at Lehman-Jackson Elementary School in Lehman Township on Tuesday. Sean McKeag | Times Leader

Second-grader River Morgan, 7, learns how to vote at Lehman-Jackson Elementary School on Tuesday.
http://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_TTL102516Voting2-1.jpg.optimal.jpgSecond-grader River Morgan, 7, learns how to vote at Lehman-Jackson Elementary School on Tuesday. Sean McKeag | Times Leader

After 57 second-grade Lehman-Jackson Elementary School students signed up to vote, each one of them was given a sticker to wear.
http://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_TTL102516Voting3-1.jpg.optimal.jpgAfter 57 second-grade Lehman-Jackson Elementary School students signed up to vote, each one of them was given a sticker to wear. Sean McKeag | Times Leader
Second-graders cast their votes for president

By Eileen Godin

egodin@timesleader.com

Reach Eileen Godin at 570-991-6387 or on Twitter @TLNews.