Spiderman, Minecraft and soccer come out on top in Kids Ballot

Venango County teachers can breathe a sigh of relief. After what appeared to be a close race at times, the answer "No" came out on top when local youngsters were asked to weigh in on the Kids Ballot question of "Should you go to school all year." There were 328 votes cast in favor of year-round classrooms and 395 opposed.

While the inquiry might have been closer than most political analysts or principals might expect, it was not the closest on the ballot. It was nearly a run-off situation in the battle for the title "Favorite Sport". Soccer beat out football 248 to 209.  Baseball and hockey finished third and fourth with 146 and 106 votes each. Garnering a smattering of votes from the underage electorate was basketball, gymnastics, cross country, marching band, swimming, dance and BMX.

Not every race was tight, Spiderman scored a landslide victory as the "Favorite Superhero" and Minecraft cruised as the "Favorite Video Game". Spidy scored the most votes of the day with 454. The nearest challenger, Captain America had 150 votes. The Man of Steal received 109. Wonderwoman, Hulk, Scarlet Spider, Thor, Batman and Green Lantern cobbled together only eight votes combined.

It was a bit closer in the video game realm with Minecraft recording 284 votes to win against Mario Kart (162), Pokemon (148) and Madden Football (123). Blues Clues, Fortnite, Candyland and Hide & Seek each received just a single vote.

Sabrina Backer and the Venango County Elections Board started the Kids Ballot program to help introduce children to the idea of voting in hopes of developing lifelong participants in the democratic process. "I love it," Backer said Wednesday after tallying to results.

​Read more about the results of the Kids Ballot primary results in our story from May 2022.  ​