On a table in the lobby of the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh yesterday, 8-year-old Ben Gorman scrutinized a mock paper ballot listing the candidates for U.S. president.

"Why don't you ever talk about these guys?" he asked his dad, pointing to pictures of Bob Barr and Ralph Nader. "What's an independent? What's a" -- he paused before sounding out the word -- "libertarian?"

As his father, Robert, pondered explaining libertarianism to an 8-year-old, his 7-year-old sister Jane-Mei ran to his side, fresh from casting a vote for Sen. Barack Obama on a real Allegheny County electronic voting machine.

"It was fun to push the buttons," she gushed, running back toward the machine. "I'm going to do it again."

"Vote early and often," chuckled Mr. Gorman, of Squirrel Hill.

Democracy was in full swing yesterday at the Children's Museum, where kids got to try out an iVotronic electronic voting machine and to record their preferences on paper ballots. The museum will collect votes on paper ballots until Election Day Nov. 4, when it will announce the vote total.

Some of the kids who tried out the machine, like the Gorman siblings, were well-steeped in the election process. Just that morning, Mr. Gorman said, he had been trying to explain a basic version of the electoral college to his kids over the breakfast table.

Eight-year-old Lily McDonald, of Shelbyville, Ky., also has been watching news of the election with her parents, Julie and Bill, who were in town to see the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Lily cast her vote for Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin, who she likes "because Mom and Dad do."

Her mother, who had taken Lily into the voting booth during the last presidential election, appreciated the display at the Children's Museum.

"I think it's great," she said. "It gets them involved."

In addition to hosting the mock election, the Children's Museum also has a display where kids can write notes to the future president. The museum has promised to forward those notes to the winner of the election.

"We're giving them a sense that it matters what they think and say," said program manager Angela Seals. "They do have ideas about what they think about things and the ways [the election is] affecting them and their parents."

The museum also handed out information for parents on how to involve their children in the election process.

Richard Machin, of Pleasant Hills, already had been talking to his sons, 4-year-old Benjamin and 5-year-old Elijah, about this election. Mr. Machin, originally from England, became a U.S. citizen this year and cast his first vote in an American election during the Pennsylvania primary.

Both his sons voted for Mr. Nader on the electronic machine -- largely because the names of Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain were higher up on the screen and they couldn't reach them.

Mr. Machin then smiled at his little cadre of Nader voters and asked them, "Do you know what Ralph Nader is best known for?"

After a couple of blank looks, he answered his own question: "Seatbelts!"

Kevin Kibe hadn't been talking to his sons about the elections but thought that bringing them over to the electronic machine was a good way to get them involved.

Like the other children voting, his sons had no trouble navigating the touchscreen. His 8-year-old son, Noah, even wrote in his own name for most of the offices on the ballot.

"I'm going to be president," said Noah, giggling and jumping up and down.

Devaughn McClinton, 3, also wrote his own name in for president, with the help of his 6-year-old cousin, James McClinton.

But James' 7-year-old sister, Shiyazjia, took her vote seriously. She's a big fan of Mr. Obama, in large part because "they've never had a black president running before," she said.

Her great-grandmother, Gloria Morrison, of the North Side, said she has been talking to all of her great-grandchildren about the importance of voting. Despite the enthusiasm for Mr. Obama in her household, she's told them to try to pick a candidate based on "what's good for the country, not just because he's black."

Shiyazjia was just excited about getting to vote using the same machine the grown-ups do.

"It was like how real people vote instead of kids voting," she said. "It was fun."