Pizza, pop and democracy: a real political party.

Students from Lawrence and Free State high schools gathered below the Riverfront Plaza on election day. Arriving at 6 p.m. and staying for three hours, students spent their night watching the election votes tally up while counting their own set of ballots: Kansas Kids Voting ballots.

“[Kids] go in with their parents to the polling place and they get to cast an actual ballot just as you would if you were really voting,” social studies teacher Matthew Herbert said.

The event is sponsored by the Journal World newspaper, but teachers like Herbert help LHS students get involved.

Students like junior Molly Lockwood went for the extra credit and volunteer hours, while others, like Chase Oehlert, helped to learn more about the political process in action.

“I thought it’d be a cool thing to learn,” he said. “I mean, you get extra credit, which is always good. It was cool to learn about it and figure out how all the process of it works and how they tally them up basically.”

Others had more altruistic reasons.

“I volunteered at Kids Voting because I like to give back to the community that treats me so well,” junior Matt Carmody said.

For younger kids, Kansas Kids Voting gave them a chance to get a feel for democracy.

“I know there’s a lot of 14 and 15 year olds who are interested in politics, but don’t actually have a say in politics,” Herbert said. “[With Kids Voting] they actually get to see the democratic process in action.”

LHS social studies teacher Fran Bartlett said Kids Voting helps with the future of democracy.

“If kids get used to the idea of going to vote at an early age it will become kind of ingrained in them,” Bartlett said. “When they’re eligible to vote they’ll be more inclined to do so because they understand the process.”

The results ended up 3,400 to 776 in President Barack Obama’s favor.