At Tiogue Elementary School in Coventry, above, second graders Brandon Pavilia, left, and Noah Cloutier prepare to vote, while Destiny Trinidad, center, contemplates her choice.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

COVENTRY — Myles Marino, a second grader at the Tiogue Elementary School, bit his lip and closely studied his choices. Each one had a small oval for him to fill in with a pencil.

It wasn’t a standardized test, but it was serious business for Myles and more than 300 other Tiogue students who cast paper ballots yesterday for the next president as well as state and local offices during a mock election. The kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school is among thousands around the country participating in the National Student/Parent Mock Election.

At Tiogue, students in kindergarten through second grade voted only for president and the local races, while grades three through five also voted on other issues, such as the economy, the environment and national security.

Myles ultimately chose Sen. John McCain for president

“I want to choose which one is better for America,” Myles, 7, said.

Edward Higham, 10, a fifth-grader, chose Sen. Barack Obama.

“He is going to stop the war in Iraq, lower taxes and health insurance and gas prices,” Edward said. “Health care is important. So many senior citizens can’t afford health care.”

Around Rhode Island, many schools are holding mock elections. This is the first time students can cast their ballots online, at www.projo.com/nie. The statewide effort is cosponsored by The Providence Journal and its Newspapers In Education program, which works with school librarians around the state. The online ballot includes statewide referenda questions and a survey on what students believe is the most important issue in the campaign.

Voting, which began on Oct. 20, ends today at 2 p.m. Results and responses — which will be posted today at www.beloblog.com/Projo_Blogs/nie — may prove to be the ultimate test in showing how strongly the competing messages of Democrat Obama and Republican McCain have registered with children.

Carol Williamson, president of the Coventry Council Parent Teachers Association, coordinated the mock election in which Tiogue students voted during their lunch period. Each student came into the polling place, registered with the mock canvassers’ clerk, picked up a paper ballot and headed to one of 19 cardboard booths.

Williamson said the school began preparing for the election last spring, registering online at the national mock election Web site. They received curriculum materials that taught about political parties, who the candidates are and their platforms.

“I think this is very important. We are reinforcing this with what the parents are doing. A lot of families have discussions about politics. We all know at home that kids are making their own decisions. It’s important to vote not for the party, but for the person whose beliefs you share the most,” Williamson said.

Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institute, in Washington D.C., said small children tend to pick up their clues from their parents, but older children generally have their own ideas. In this election, particularly, he said young people have swayed many adults’ opinions.

“Teenagers tend to be more independent than kids. Many teenagers have lobbied to have their parents support Barack Obama. Obama runs really well in the young adult category. Typically, we think that parents tell kids what to do. It’s something we haven’t seen in recent years,” West said.

He added that mock elections are great at stimulating interest.

“It gets students to pay attention to elections and gets them thinking about what a good choice would be,” West said.

When yesterday’s votes at Tiogue were tallied, Obama won handily with 239 votes to McCain’s 117.

Statewide, voting continues through today. But by late yesterday afternoon, 73 percent of young voters — mostly middle school students — were picking Obama. Also statewide, 53 percent said the economy was the top issue and 30 percent gave the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan first priority.

Tiogue fifth-grader John Palmer, 10, said he supported McCain.

“He can help with the war in Iraq,” John said, adding that health care “is the most important issue. Everybody needs to have health care.”

Kendall Torborg, 9, took the time to the watch the television reports to learn about the issues.

“I voted for Barack Obama. He will lower taxes, but give higher taxes for some people,” said Kendall who added she thought that seemed fair. “I think the economy is the most important.”

lsparks@projo.com