Photo courtesy of Rick Purrington Marshall High School senior Julianna Purrington and junior Berlin Kass worked to check voters in during a mock election held at MHS on Monday. The MHS Honor Society organizes a mock election once every two years.

MARSHALL — Marshall High School students got a chance to practice casting a ballot this week, during a mock election. A total of 320 MHS students and staff made their choices for president, as well as candidates in state and local races, student organizers said.

“Our goal was to give students an opportunity to experience voting,” said Jack Gunn, a member of the MHS Honor Society and one of the chairs of the organizing committee. “You can definitely learn a lot by participating.”

In the mock presidential election, Donald Trump had the most votes at 168, followed by 127 votes for Kamala Harris and 25 votes for a third party or write-in candidate.

“I think the turnout was about what we expected,” Gunn said. “We were definitely busy.” In addition to helping run the mock election, Honor Society members also provided students with informational materials to learn more about the candidates on the ballot.

The ballots for the mock election looked really similar to the actual ballots used in Minnesota elections, Gunn said. Having the chance to fill one out was helpful for students new to voting, or who weren’t yet old enough to vote. Many students haven’t seen a ballot before, he said.

“I think it’s really cool,” Gunn said of being part of the mock election.

The MHS Honor Society has organized a mock election once every two years since 2012, said Honor Society adviser Rick Purrington.

The MHS Honor Society also shared its mock election results with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office, Gunn said. The Secretary of State’s Office compiles the results of mock presidential elections at K-12 schools across Minnesota.

This year, a total of 407 schools statewide held mock elections. While Trump may have won at MHS, statewide Kamala Harris had the lead with roughly 60,000 votes. Trump had close to 55,000 votes, Minnesota mock election results said.