With election day right around the corner, Normal Community West High School is getting involved.

In fact, Normal West will be hosting a mock election during the school day on Friday, Nov. 1.

Any student, regardless of age, is allowed to participate in this tradition hosted by Social Studies teacher Anthony Berardi.

“So probably 25 years ago during an election cycle, I decided I wanted to get involved in doing mock elections here at school, so we contacted Kathy Michael who is still but was [also] then the McLean County Clerk,” said Berardi. “She gave us voting machines and actual sample ballots and all of that sort of stuff.”

Students who are especially interested in politics and/or elections have the opportunity to help with the mock election throughout the school day on Nov. 1.

On the day of the mock election, Mr. Berardi and the student volunteers work hard to make the set up as similar to that of a real election as possible.

“I try to set it up just like a polling place where they go in and they have to give their name. We find their name, we give them a ballot, and they actually go into a voting booth. I was able to get six actual voting booths […] to simulate actual voting,” said Berardi.

Mr. Berardi is very well versed in the realm of voting and elections, not only as a member of the social studies department, but also due to the fact that he is a certified registrar for Mclean County. This certification allows him to help eligible Normal West students not only participate in the mock election but also to get registered to actually vote.

“You get trained on how to fill out the paperwork, and it used to be they had to fill out all this paperwork and I had to verify everything,” Berardi explained. “It’s been moved to online registration so now I [just give] some information on how you can register to vote online so I don’t do the paperwork part of it anymore.”

Mr. Berardi emphasizes that registering to vote is easier than it seems and shares his hope for first time voters.

“Sometimes people have this idea [that] it’s this big overburdening task to get registered. It’s almost intimidating, so they don’t do it and then they just don’t vote,” said Berardi. “Once they realize it’s not that hard to get registered to vote and they actually go through the process of doing it then I hope that it might make them become lifelong voters.”

Mr. Berardi shares some logistical insight for those interested in getting registered to vote.

“Two weeks before the election it cuts off registering online then you can still do it but you have to go to the McLean County Government Building. You have to go to the County Clerk’s office to register and even if you fail to do that and it’s election day, you can still go to the county clerk’s office and register the day of the election and vote.”

It is important for Mr. Berardi to get involved with election cycles, and he encourages others to do the same.

“With our politics as [they are] today where it’s so visceral and so ‘Us versus Them’ I want people to get the idea that when you participate in electoral politics it doesn’t have to be [like that].”

For years, Mr. Berardi has helped students and non-students alike get registered to vote on election day.

Although there is less paperwork involved in the process now, Mr. Berardi is still a great resource for students at Normal West looking to vote.

“They could [come] down to my room, find me, or shoot me an email through Unit 5 and I can just send them the link [they just need their] state ID or driver’s license and everything is pretty user friendly.”

This story was originally published on Paw Print on October 25, 2024.