--- title: Election 2016: So Negative An Elementary School Cancels It description: New York's Jericho Elementary School cancelled its mock election because of negativity. Students will instead vote for their favorite lunch canonical: https://time.com/4556391/election-negative-elementary-school-cancelled/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-03T15:31:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:36:17.218Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Election Got So Negative That One Elementary School Cancelled It og:description: Students will instead vote on their favorite lunch og:url: https://time.com/4556391/election-negative-elementary-school-cancelled/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8bb670ba07eddc7/6988acd1e20a87374ea9312c/elementary-school-cancel-election-negative.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: elementary school cancel election negative og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Election Got So Negative That One Elementary School Cancelled It twitter:description: Students will instead vote on their favorite lunch twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8bb670ba07eddc7/6988acd1e20a87374ea9312c/elementary-school-cancel-election-negative.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Election Got So Negative That an Elementary School Cancelled It  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Nov 3, 2016 3:31 PM UTC  Check marks Check markszorabcde—Getty Images/iStockphoto  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Nov 3, 2016 3:31 PM UTC Although its students are too young to vote, Jericho Elementary School [was going to hold](http://abc7ny.com/education/school-cancels-mock-election-amid-vitriolic-political-season/1582291/) a mock presidential election so the children could take part in the spirit of the country’s democratic system. It turns out, the election was [too negative](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/03/negativity-made-this-elementary-school-do-what-america-cant-cancel-the-election/) for the Long Island, N.Y. elementary school to handle. Principal Glen Rogers said the school’s teachers decided to do away with the mock election when students started bringing up “things about minorities” in the cafeteria or argue in ways inappropriate for school, [ABC 7 Reports](http://abc7ny.com/education/school-cancels-mock-election-amid-vitriolic-political-season/1582291/). “Some people were getting angry because some people like Trump and some people like Clinton,” fifth grader Miranda Waterstold ABC 7\. “Some people think Clinton’s not good. Some think Trump’s not good. So there’s a lot of arguments going on, and I don’t like that.” Instead, students are voting on their favorite lunch choices this Friday. The youngsters can mull over the following options: Bagel with yogurt, chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks or home-brought lunch. “We wanted to think of something where students could have the experience of voting in preparation for Election Day,” said Rogers to ABC 7\. “So at least they would be excited about voting for something.” \[[_ABC 7_](http://abc7ny.com/education/school-cancels-mock-election-amid-vitriolic-political-season/1582291/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4556391/election-negative-elementary-school-cancelled/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4556391/election-negative-elementary-school-cancelled/"},"headline":"The Election Got So Negative That an Elementary School Cancelled It","datePublished":"2016-11-03T15:31:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:36:17.218Z","description":"Students will instead vote on their favorite lunch","url":"https://time.com/4556391/election-negative-elementary-school-cancelled/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","politics","Education","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8bb670ba07eddc7/6988acd1e20a87374ea9312c/elementary-school-cancel-election-negative.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8bb670ba07eddc7/6988acd1e20a87374ea9312c/elementary-school-cancel-election-negative.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"elementary school cancel election negative","caption":"v","creditText":"zorabcde—Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4556391/election-negative-elementary-school-cancelled/","name":"The Election Got So Negative That an Elementary School Cancelled It"}}]}] ```