Mock Election Project

US Government

Party Website Must Checklist:

Party name, slogan and symbol
Name: Unity Party
Slogan: You matter
Symbol: The Earth
Party thesis statement
Our party is based on equality and the fairness and inclusion of ALL
peoples rights.
List of Party leadership
List of party positions on 3-5 domestic issues
List of party positions on 3-5 foreign policy issues
30 to 60 second commercial
Three- 30 second mini-interviews where the President addresses positions on
domestic issues (use research/position paragraphs)
Three- 30 second mini-interviews where the President addresses positions on
foreign policy issues (use research/position paragraphs)
Put website link in the Mock Election Drop Box

I. Introduction
The Mock Election Project is a practical experience in electoral politics. Each class
member will become part of a political party for the purpose of this project.

Each party shall elect six leaders:

1) Party Chair
Amanda Daraphet
2) Presidential Candidate
Calyssa Botelho
3) Vice Presidential Candidate
Olivia Mann
4) Foreign Policy Chair
Julianna Blaine
5) Domestic Policy Chair
Savannah Carballo
6) Communications and Media Director
Guadalupe Aleman

The party leaders will organize the party and its campaign, develop the platform, and
carry out specified tasks. The party leaders will each chair a platform committee which
will be comprised of rank-and-file members of the party. Rank-and-file members will
write a research/position (1 paragraph) on a selected platform of domestic and foreign
policy issues. Party leaders will then edit the research/positions into a coherent party
platform.
II. Mock Election Sequence
1. Break up into groups of 8 to 12 (no more than 5 total groups per class)
2. Name your political party.
3. Decide where your political party will stand on the political spectrum.
(Liberal/Moderate/Conservative/Socialist/Libertarian/etc.)
4. Elect your six party leaders, everyone else is a Rank-and-File Members. Carefully
read over your tasks.
5. Prepare a thesis statement that describes what your party is all about.
6. Create a party platform by choosing 3-5 Domestic issues and 3-5 Foreign Policy
Issues and creating positions on them.
7. Prepare a slogan for your campaign.
8. Each member carry out your job descriptions listed below, by researching,
reading current events, creating campaign paraphernalia, and planning and
making your campaign commercial.
9. Your party will be required to share your website campaign commercials and
issues videos in class. The websites will be shown in class by the
Communications and Media Directors.
10. View the campaign commercials of another class look at their websites.
11. Each student will vote on the candidate of his or her choosing from the other
class. The party from each class with the winning party will earn extra credit.

III. Job Descriptions

A. Party Chair
The Party Chair is in overall command of the party campaign. This person should be well
organized and have the respect of the members of the party. The Chair must develop an
agenda for and preside over in-class meetings of the party. The Chair must make certain
that each member has policy position research topics as soon as possible, must coordinate
the platform committee, must coordinate the various platform positions, and meet all
deadlines set for the project. The Chair will evaluate the effort of each party member and
recommend grades for each member.

B. Presidential Candidate
The Presidential Candidate is the chief spokesperson for the party. This person should be
articulate and have the ability to get votes. The Presidential Candidate must be the most
visible member of the party during the campaign (perhaps introducing him or herself to
the voters) and will be the lead speaker during the party platform videos. The
Presidential Candidate will chair the platform-writing committee and will assist the Party
Chair in the editing of policy position paragraph into a cohesive party platform.
Candidates will assist with policy position paragraphs.

C. Vice Presidential Candidate

The Vice Presidential Candidates job description is similar to the Presidential
Candidates except that the V.P. will be the secondary spokesperson for the party.
Candidates will assist with policy positions.

D. Foreign Policy Chair

The Foreign Policy Chair will be in charge of the development of the Foreign Policy
portion of the party platform. The F.P. Chair must make sure that all rank-and-file
members in the Foreign Policy Committee have appropriate policy position research
paper topics and must coordinate the theses to ensure a consistent party platform. The
F.P. Chair will assist the Chair in writing the party platform and will provide information
to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates.

E. Domestic Policy Chair

The Domestic Policy Chairs job description is similar to the Foreign Policy Chairs
except for a focus on domestic policy issues.

F. Communications and Media Director

The Communications and Media Director will plan a 30-60 second campaign commercial
and see to it that it gets filmed, uploaded, and prepared to air. This person will also be in
charge of coming up with campaign slogans and design pertinent campaign website and
other paraphernalia. This person will help with the party platform where the Party Chair
deems fit. Finally, the director will be in charge of filming the commercial and speeches
and uploading it to the website.

G. Rank-and-File Members
Those persons not selected as one of the party leaders will be rank-and-file party
members. Rank-and-file members must join the platform writing committee and select
policy position based on the party platform topics as soon as possible. The thesis of each
position created should be consistent with the party platform. The Party Chair will
determine when the research/position paragraphs will be due. Rank and file members
will assist in creating a website AND research for writing paragraphs based on the party
positions.

IV. Platform Issues (choose 3-5 Domestic issues and 3-5 Foreign Policy issues and
create one paragraph positions)

Possible Domestic Issues

1. Economy / federal budget deficits / specifics for spending on programs
2. Affirmative Action
3. Balanced Budget Amendment
4. Civil Liberties / Patriot Act / Privacy
5. Education Breanna McCostlin
A. Stoping Common Core
6. Health care
7. American job loss
8. Tax code (progressive vs. flat, etc.)
9. Abortion -- Diana Cortez
a. Pro-choice, but ban after 1st trimester unless mothers life is truly in
danger
b. Planned Parenthood
10. Energy policy / Fracking / Oil Production
11. Crime / death penalty - Jose A. Covarrubias
a. Keep death penalty but only for special circumstances ie.) murder, etc
b. Focus on sentencing serious crimes to prevent overcrowding in
jails/prisons
12. Border Security
13. Immigration reform (ideas for new laws, Obamas executive order from 2014,
 etc.)**
14. Environment/EPA***
15. Entitlement Programs: Social Security / Medicare / Medicaid****
16. Firearms
17. Minimum wage -- Karoline Saelee
a. Keep minimum wage to a state-by-state policy
b. Offer benefits (healthcare/vacation/discounts) in place of raising minimum
wage if you cannot afford to raise the wage.
18. School vouchers
19. Welfare spending
20. Malpractice lawsuits
21. Religion in the public sphere
22. etc.

Foreign Issues
1. Military/defense spending // Savannah Carballo
2. Syrian Crisis (Assad regime, civil war, refugees, etc.) What should the U.S. role
be?
a. Accept refeugees into the U.S and offer same level of help as Americans
b. Volunteer/Foreign-exchange-like program where families take in refugees
and receive benefits
c. More education on accepting and respecting refugees, most refugees are
good people, so why cant we be good people too?
3. Iran (nuclear deal, other issues)
4. Afghanistan
5. Terrorism (Not simply ISIS)
6. North Korea
7. World trade issues / NAFTA / Chinese relations / TPP
8. Africa / AIDS
9. Israel / Palestine
10. Climate Change (natural cycle or man caused?) / Kyoto treaty -- Esthela
a. ITS REAL
b. Happens naturally, but man is speeding up the process
c. Crack on people who do not effectively care for the world (carbon
footprint)
i. Benefits to those who do
ii. Penalities to those who dont
d. People on welfare/assistance can perform community service that benefits
environment for compensation
e. Provide education on how to save the Earth

11. Illegal immigration / U.S. borders

12. United Nations
13. Relations with EU
14. Relations with Russia -- Maite
a. Build new relationship: makes amends and come to terms with the fact
that differently ran counties can work together (allies)
b. STAND YOUR GROUND. Never let your guard down.
15. Countries who persecute religious minorities
16. etc.
IV. Conclusion

The Mock Election project is intended to provide students with a hands-on experience in
campaigning. While this project should lend itself to humorous and witty campaigning,
grades will be determined primarily by the quality of the academic research and the
articulation of a fully developed party platform. Also, all who participate fully and work
well in class will see a positive grade as a result.

It is expected that the platforms will focus on national issues that are currently defining
public debate.

V. Example Websites
1. http://alliedfreedomparty.weebly.com/
2. http://compparty.weebly.com/
3. http://bullmoosefiesta.weebly.com/
4. http://msarmiento500279.wixsite.com/harrisonemery
5. http://chamberistsrepublicans.weebly.com/

Calyssa
Olivia
Esthela
Amanda
Juliana
Karoline
Jose
Diana
Savane
Maite
Guadalupe
Breanna
Alexis

Savannah Carballo// The Syrian Crisis

As Americans we know or had many family members who had to fight
their way here in the beginning. We needed to get away from the bad situations
we were born into. We need to offer the same help to these syrian refugees as we
would to the needy americans. We would like to propose the open door act. This
act would entail great opportunities for you and your family. Not only will your child
graduate with an educated mind on refuges, He/She will graduate with a special
cord proving that they have done this specific vgood deed. They will also receive
the opportunity to apply to our scholarship. You will also receive financial benefits,
such as health care and extra money with your tax return.

Jose A. Covarrubias//Death Penalty

We reserve the death penalty in the United States for the most heinous
murders and the most brutal and conscienceless murderers. This is not, as some
critics argue, a kind of state-run lottery that randomly chooses an unlucky few for
the ultimate penalty from among all those convicted of murder. Put another way,
to sentence killers like those described above to less than death would fail to do
 justice because the penalty presumably a long period in prison would be grossly
disproportionate to the heinousness of the crime.

Esthela Mena-Lozano Climate Change

We believe that climate change is real and while it does happen naturally,
we think man is helping speed up the process, there are many scientist providing
evidence to support this, such as climate change is causing the irregular weather
or how ice in the north and south pole is melting at a fast rate. We think that to
help stop climate change, we should start by make sure that people are taking the
proper measures in what can and cant be recycled. To do this we can provide
education on how to help the environment and how it can help save the world. We
can also have people clean up the streets and provide benefits for those who do
and penalties to those who leave litter behind. People like those on welfare or
receiving assistance can perform community serves relating to help better the
environment.

Breanna McCostlin Education

Ways that we can change our education in school is by getting rid of common core all
together. Common core doesnt really benefit children as much as they think that it does.
It keeps the kids who are struggling behind and the kinds who wanna get ahead stuck
really learning nothing. According to the fifth reason on 9 Reasons Why Common Core
Is Bad For Education, common core determines what will be taught in the classroom.
This makes it harder for kids to learn different material because half of the year in
classes they are just reviewing on what they had done in the previous year. Sometimes
teachers even have to reteach concepts because in the previous year the teacher may
not have taught it in a way for some to understand but not all. The way that we can
change this is by breaking the subjects back up and helping kids who really need it stay
where they need to be. The kids who are ahead in their education can move forward
rather than being left behind in the back of the class while the teachers are helping the
kids who really dont understand the material. There are also things that parents believe
are affecting to their children due to the advanced uses of technology in schools. When
their children are at school they may just be playing games or talking to their friends all
day on the computers and not really focusing on work. The ways that we could change
the distraction of technology is by limiting the time that they spend on the computers in
and out of school. It might also be more effective if schools had changed back to
updated books that will aid the students without having to rely solely on the internet for
the answers that they need. When looking back on what it was like for people before
internet and computers they were still very smart and successful people.
Citation:
"9 Reasons Why Common Core is Bad for Education." TFP Student Action. N.p., n.d.
Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

Karoline Saelee- Minimum Wage

How is minimum wage affecting the working class at this time? Well a lot of people rely
on minimum wage to make a way of living. Especially since sometimes it is to get
experience but sometimes they stay longer since jobs are harder to find. We should let
the states decide what the minimum wage should be since the state knows about the
taxes and rent. It wouldnt make sense if Arizona got to decide New York's minimum
wage and doesnt know much about how it is over there and so they just say their
minimum wage is $8.00. Rent is expensive in New York, so that would mean they would
have to sacrifice things. It wouldnt make sense if we let another state decide minimum
wage for a state they dont really know about. So the states should decide their own
minimum wage since they would know best and they should know more about all the
cities in the state. Sometimes instead of raising the minimum wage we can also make
the companies offer benefits.

Abortion: Should not be available for women who want or, especially if they were raped
or have zero interest in caring for the child. Among for many women the issue of abortion
matters deeply, there is an overwhelming feeling of fatigue and resignation. The simply
don't want to talk about it. It is important to point out, however, that this is not reality on
the ground. Proponents, identifying themselves as pro choice, contend that choosing
abortion is women's rights that should not be limited by governmental or religious
authority, and which outweighs any right claimed for any embryo or fetus. They say that
pregnant women will resort to unsafe illegal abortions if there is no legal option.
Opponents, identifying themselves as pro-life, contend that personhood begins at
conception, and therefore abortion is the immoral killing of an innocent human being.
They say abortions inflicts suffering on the unborn child, and that it is unfair to allow
abortions. YOu can use any of the insurance plans listed to cover health care services at
planned parenthood. Most birth control and annual well-women exams will be covered
for free, with no copay.

Relations with Russia - Maite

Russia United States relations is the bilateral relationship between the United States and
the Russian Federation, the successor state to the Soviet Union. Russia and the United
States maintain diplomatic and trade relations. The relationship was generally warm
under Russia's President Boris Yeltsin until the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999, and has since deteriorated significantly under
Vladimir Putin. In 2014, relations greatly strained due to the crisis in Ukraine, Russia's
annexation of Crimea, and, in 2015, by sharp differences regarding Russian military
intervention in the Syrian Civil War. Mutual sanctions imposed in 2014 remain in place.