Fort Walton Beach students take a look at youth engagement in politics

FORT WALTON BEACH — As Okaloosa County residents made their way to the polls on Election Day, about 100 students at Fort Walton Beach High School did the same, albeit in an informal way.
The Fort Walton Beach High School Speech and Debate team conducted a straw poll in which students could vote using the same ballot a Fort Walton Beach resident would have had to fill out for the general election.
To prepare students for the vote, the Speech and Debate team curated a voter information packet outlining each candidate’s policies and the pros and cons of each ballot measure. This information was taken from either a candidate’s website, Ballotpeida, a non-partisan political research reference website or articles from local news media.
According to the results, 119 students participated in the straw poll.
In the presidential race, 61 students, or 58%, voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, with former President Donald Trump coming away with 45 votes, or 42%. The other 11 votes were either for third-party candidates or write-in votes, with two students saying they did not have enough information to decide.
Incumbent Rick Scott had 42 votes, 55% of the vote, for the U.S. Senate race, while Democratic challenger Debbie Mucrarsel-Powell had 35, or 45%. Forty-one other students either voted third-party, wrote in or did not have enough information to decide.
Moving to the U.S. House race, Incumbent Matt Gaetz narrowly beat Gay Vailmont with 47, or 51%, votes compared to Valimont’s 45, or 49%. Twenty-two students said they did not have enough information to decide.
The results also showed that state Rep. Patt Maney received 39 votes, or 51%, compared to Samuel Chang, who received 37 votes, or 49%. Twenty-eight students abstained due to insufficient information.
Each Supreme Court justice or District Court of Appeal judge retained their seat, according to the straw poll, with the most notable result coming with the decision to retain District Court of Appeal Judge Bradford L. Thomas, which had a 50/50 vote split.
Okaloosa County results:Your Voice, Your Vote: How did Okaloosa County vote in 2024 general election?
When the results turned to the proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution, all passed with the required 60% supermajority, including Amendments 3 and 4, with 67% and 69%, respectively.
When the ballot turned to local issues, the Okaloosa County EDATE Program, which provides property tax exemptions to businesses, passed with 52 votes, or 79%.
The three amendments tied to changes to the Fort Walton Beach City Charter all passed with more than 65% of the vote.
According to William Kiker and Katrina Brominguez, the Debate team teacher, the results from the straw poll were as expected, with Republicans taking victories narrowly down the ballot due to voters’ age and diverse student body population.
The group noted the strange results in the presidential race. The straw poll shows that Fort Walton Beach students voted for Harris at a higher rate than most young voters across Florida by 3%, which was “shocking” due in part to Fort Walton Beach’s location in one of the most conservative areas in the state.
“Harris outperformed every down-ballot Democrat in our straw poll, despite the fact that she did not do so in the actual election,” wrote Kiker.
The group believes that a few factors drove this result. The first is low voter turnout, with about 7% of the student body participating in the vote compared to 78% turnout across the state—the second reason is a lack of interest in the election compared to students who were invested in it.
“The results were very skewed toward those with a higher level of interest in the election, who are likely to skew Harris since Harris voters are in the minority in our region, and therefore, those who resisted the general pro-Trump trend in Okaloosa County are likely to be those more tuned to national politics,” Kiker wrote.
“The high Harris vote was also driven by campaigning. A few people who were exceptionally engaged in the election took it upon themselves to try to bring as many Harris voters to the polls as possible, and this campaign was very successful. They brought probably a dozen Harris voters to the polls, which was enough to give Harris a large lead in the final tally.”
Ultimately, the Fort Walton Beach straw poll results were seen as a “microcosm” of politics nationwide, as the choice of a few votes ultimately swayed the outcomes of key races.
“A few individuals can make a big difference in local elections,” wrote Kiker. “Were it not for their campaigning, it’s not clear who would have ended up on top, but it only took a few people fighting for what they believed in to wildly change the outcome.”
“A lot of young people disengage from politics because they believe they have no power to change anything. But that is wrong — young people do have the power to change things, if only we choose to exercise it.”