While a majority of voters in Washington County favored Republican John McCain in Tuesday's election, many student mock election results at public and private schools were just the opposite.

The Arizona senator received more votes among registered voters in 36 of Washington County's 67 communities. He also was the top vote getter in Greene County, despite a nearly 2-to-1 voter registration deficit.

But student votes favored Democrat Barack Obama.

Nationally, young voters may have been key to Mr. Obama's victory. Young voters chose him over Mr. McCain by 68 percent to 30 percent -- the highest share of the youth vote obtained by any candidate since exit polls began reporting results by age in 1976, according to CIRCLE, a nonpartisan organization that promotes research on the political involvement of Americans between ages 15 and 25.

At California Area High School, students in grades 9-12 favored Mr. Obama by 52 percent over Mr. McCain who received 40 percent of the vote. Ralph Nader got 4 percent and Bob Barr, of the Libertarian Party, got 1 percent.

The mock election was preceded by a debate of the presidential candidates staged by the students.

Mr. Obama also was the winner among Canon-McMillan High School students in grades 9-12 who voted as part of their social studies curriculum. He received 61.4 percent of the votes.

The results differed from the actual vote among the district's electorate, where Mr. McCain was the top vote getter Tuesday in Cecil and North Strabane. Mr. Obama received the most votes in Canonsburg.

In Peters, students voted in sync with their parents who favored Mr. McCain by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

Peters Middle School students chose Mr. McCain by a 64 percent margin among 623 voters.

Staff members, meanwhile, favored Mr. Obama, 48 percent to 43 percent. Other presidential candidate totals were Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party, 3 percent; Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party, 2 percent; Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party, 2 percent; and Hillary Clinton (write-in), 2 percent.

At Bower Hill Elementary School in Peters, grades 1-3 voted electronically: Mr. McCain, 428, and Mr. Obama, 155; kindergarten children voted with paper ballots: McCain, 95; Obama, 80. The school total was Mr. McCain 523 and Mr. Obama 235.

Ringgold High School students who voted Oct. 30, backed Mr. Obama 395 to 264 votes. Ron Paul received 4 votes. Students were required to register in order to vote. To help the 18-year-olds recognize the importance of their vote in the real election, only those students under 18 were allowed to vote in the mock election.

Students in kindergarten through grade 5 at Trinity West Elementary School favored Mr. Obama by 221-194 votes.

Social studies classes at Washington High School cast 388 votes with these results: Mr. Obama, 73 percent; Mr. McCain, 17 percent; Ralph Nader, 5 percent; Bob Barr, 2.5 percent; Cynthia McKinney, 1 percent; Alan Keyes, 1 percent; Brian Moore, 0.5 percent.

The statistics class is updating the other analysis. It can be viewed at whselection.wikispaces.com/.