El Paso ISD students practice voting in mock presidential election

EL PASO, Texas -- Thousands of students are getting a taste exercising their civic duty. The El Paso Independent School District is holding a mock election to coincide with the real thing on Nov. 3.

"The issues that are most important to me are social injustice and coronavirus pandemic," said Jalen Martin, who is a senior at Irvin High School.

Elementary schools are also participating. Levi Salazar, a fifth grade student at Polk Elementary School, said he was excited.

"In a few years we're going to be in the actual election," Salazar said. "Something that's really important to me is immigration and global warming."

"We're really trying to get them to do their research and understanding about the candidates," said John Roach. Roach is the instructional technology specialist for EPISD. "We've put all kinds of different information for the students on the learning platform they've been using for distance learning."

Students have been studying the platforms of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden in the lead-up to Election Day.

Martin said his teacher assigned debate watching as a class assignment.

"I was able to see both perspectives from each candidate, what they believe and their policies," he said.

Both are learning not just how to vote, but why.

"If students and kids don't do that stuff, nothing's really going to be changing when they're older," said Salazar. "It's going to stay the same. And children are the future of our world."

High school students began casting ballots Monday. The remaining grade levels can vote on Election Day.

The district set up a section on its website where the students can see how their campuses voted.