With Mock Election, Flathead High School Students Get a Lesson in Civics
Kalispell’s high school students are part of a growing wave of Gen-Z voters set to reshape the country’s electorate. Find out how they voted in Flathead High School’s mock election.
By Denali Sagner
On a cloudy Friday morning, just four days before a historic election in Montana, Roy Antley’s class was learning about misinformation.
Antley is a social studies teacher at Flathead High School, where he’s taught and coached student activities for 15 years. In his government classes, Antley’s students learn about civics, media literacy, governance and the political process.
“Government is not a topic that kids naturally gravitate towards, but I think many of them are starting to appreciate that this is an important topic,” Antley said.
Flathead High School students each election year participate in a school-wide mock election, an exercise that Antley helps administer. The social studies teacher says the mock election helps familiarize students with the democratic process and gives them a template for how to research candidates. For some, it also coincides with their first visit to the ballot box, as they join the wave of Gen-Z Americans shaping electoral politics.
“I’ve always kind of been interested in politics,” senior Dilia Dederick said.
Though not old enough to vote in this election, Dederick said she’s appreciated digging into hot-button issues in Antley’s class. She’s also liked the opportunity to sort through complicated issues in an open environment.
“I really appreciate it and what Mr. Antley teaches. He doesn’t have a specific viewpoint and he’s very open about our opinions, which I really appreciate,” she said.
Ahead of the mock election, Antley’s students were tasked with researching candidates and compiling reports to share with their classmates.
According to senior Kurt Shelton, who voted in his first election this fall, the assignment gave him “more of an honest viewpoint” on candidates’ beliefs, “because it’s coming straight from what they’re saying rather than all of the political ads.”
After the mock election, senior Zoë Wedd said, “I know a lot more about what each candidate does, and there were some things on my ballot I wouldn’t have even known about.”
The Flathead High School students are part of a growing electorate that is poised to reshape American politics as more and more Gen-Z teenagers become eligible to vote. Gen-Z teenagers are digital natives whose lives have been shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic, political polarization, global recession and foreign wars. Per a 2023 survey by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, more than half of Gen-Z teens do not identify with a major political party. Gen-Z is more religiously diverse than older generations, more likely to believe that generational change in political leadership is necessary to solve problems, and more likely to form connections with others online.
Bodie Mason, a senior, said the majority of people his age get their news from social media, where candidates can connect directly with young voters.
“Almost every kid these days is watching TikTok and Instagram,” Mason said, adding that through his social media presence, candidates like former President Donald Trump are “striking at the topics that everybody cares about.”
“It’s definitely made this election more divisive than others,” Shelton said about the growing polarization in American politics.
Watching old presidential debates, Shelton said politics were “so much more civilized.”
Antley said one of his primary goals is using the classroom space to combat the “erosion of belief and trust in our democratic processes” that has come to define American politics.
Public trust in government is nearing a historic low, according to the Pew Research Center, with only 22% of Americans in 2024 saying they trust the government to do what is right just about always or most of the time. Already, U.S. intelligence agencies have warned of misinformation spreading ahead of Tuesday’s election.
“It’s challenging,” Antley said. “Obviously, our primary goal is to make sure that we’re being fair and objective and making sure that we’re not politicizing or indoctrinating kids, but at the same time we have a really important duty to equip kids to be on guard against disinformation and help them identify it.”
Students expressed frustration about the barrage of political ads and mailers in Montana this cycle, specifically in relation to the state’s competitive U.S. Senate race.
“They don’t really say what they’re going to do. They just say why the other candidate is bad. That’s not what we want to see, I don’t think, in campaigning,” Mason said.
On the issues that matter most, students discussed the rising cost of housing in the Flathead Valley. Some expressed concerns about abortion access. Others said inflation is the biggest issue for their generation.
“We try to connect it to something they can relate to,” Antley said of the lessons in his government class.
By doing so, Antley works to bring students in, helping them buy into their political future.
“Many of them are not old enough to vote for the real thing yet,” he said. “But when they go vote in 2026, they’ll know the process.”
See the full Flathead High School mock election results below.
President of the United States
- Trump/Vance: 536
- Harris/Walz: 130
- Kennedy/Shanahan: 65
- Stein/Ware: 16
- Oliver/Ter Maat: 14
U.S. Senate
- Tim Sheehy (R): 433
- Jon Tester (D)*: 269
- Sid Daoud (L): 32
- Robert Barb (G): 29
U.S. House (MT-01)
- Ryan Zinke (R)*: 507
- Monica Tranel (D): 172
- Dennis Hayes (L): 65
Governor / Lieutenant Governor
- Gianforte/Juras (R)*: 486
- Busse/Graybill (D): 215
- Leib/Campbell (L): 45
Secretary of State
- Christi Jacobsen (R)*: 478
- Jesse Mullen (D): 154
- John Lamb (L): 106
Attorney General
- Austin Knudsen (R)*: 530
- Ben Alke (D): 207
State Auditor
- James Brown (R): 558
- John Repke (D): 175
Superintendent of Public Instruction
- Susie Hedalen (R): 509
- Shannon O’Brien (D): 225
Public Service Commission (PSC-4)
- Jennifer Fielder (R)*: 489
- Elena Evans (I): 244
Clerk of the Supreme Court
- Bowen Greenwood (R)*: 509
- Erin Farris-Olsen (D): 130
- Roger Roots (L): 91
Supreme Court Chief Justice
- Cory Swanson: 377
- Jeremiah Lynch: 342
Supreme Court Justice #3
- Dan Wilson: 402
- Katherine Bidegaray: 318
District Court Judge District 11, Dept. 1: Shall Judge Amy Eddy of District 11 be retained in office?
- Yes: 496
- No: 219
District Court Judge District 11, Dept. 2
- Paul Sullivan: 444
- Eric Hummel: 268
District Court Judge District 11, Dept 3: Shall Judge Heidi Ulbricht of District 11 be retained in office?
- Yes: 476
- No: 239
Clerk of District Court
- Sara Fredenberg Smith: 720
County Commissioner
- Randy Brodehl (R)*: 492
- James Lockwood (D): 230
Constitutional Initiative 126 (Top-Four Primary Initiative)
- Yes: 502
- No: 221
Constitutional Initiative 127 (Majority Vote Required to Win Elections)
- Yes: 454
- No: 272
Constitutional Initiative 128 (Right to Abortion Initative)
- Yes: 447
- No: 296