"Shana, vote!" Devonshire calls to a friend, who ambles over.

On a table are slips of paper, blank but for the names of candidates who are running or have run for president this year - Clinton, Obama, McCain, Huckabee, Paul.

The mock election is a precursor to April 22, when many students from Garnet Valley High School will cast their first real votes in a Pennsylvania primary that, for once, may decide the Democratic nominee.

"Where's Ralph Nader?" a student asks, looking over the ballot.

"He dropped out," somebody answers.

Actually, somebody else corrects, Nader just dropped in.

"Can we vote?" asks Leah Coan, 17, tugging on the arm of her boyfriend, Tom Winter.

"Absolutely," Devonshire answers.

Whom do they favor?

"John McCain," they answer simultaneously.

At 18, Devonshire, "Viv" to her friends, is no stranger to activism. Last year, she was among four young women who won a settlement stemming from a 2005 incident at a Barnes & Noble store - they were tossed out of the store where Sen. Rick Santorum was promoting his book.

She organized the mock election because she wants students to get involved. And she wonders how the voting will turn out.

Garnet Valley is a 1,400-student school in Glen Mills, a Delaware County community of old farmhouses, rolling hills and impressive wealth. Nearly everyone graduates, nearly everyone goes to college, nearly everyone is white.

An hour before the voting is to start, two dozen students gather in a classroom for a meeting of their group, Speak Up. The discussion moves from censorship to sex education before turning to politics.

"Everyone seems to pick their favorite candidate, but they don't really know what the person stands for," says 16-year-old Isabella Fehlandt.

"It's like a high school popularity contest," agrees Joseph Morris, 15.

Most of the students were 8 or 9 when George W. Bush was elected president. He's all they know. That, and endless, to-the-death war between Democrats and Republicans.

Wajeeha Choudhary, an 18-year-old senior poised to vote for the first time, is excited about Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

"It's almost unfair," she says, "because I want both."

One woman says that even though she's liberal, she respects John McCain enough to vote for a Republican.

"Don't do it!" someone calls out, provoking laughter.

"I was talking to my mom," Morris resumes, "and she was really scared, because she thought I was a Republican. But of the three, I like him the best. He seems the most grounded."

The first of three lunch periods is ending, and with it the first third of the voting. A few stragglers head out into the hallway, books in hand.

"I voted 'undecided,' " says Barathi Chinnappan, 16.

About 50 students have cast ballots. Over the next two periods, 140 more will follow.

The results?

Arnold Schwarzenegger gets a write-in vote. So does Nader. And Mitt Romney and Bob Dole. One student voted for Darth Vader.

Obama wins easily with 81 votes. McCain is second with 56, Clinton a distant third with 20. Paul gets 16 and Huckabee 8.

"I was a little bit disappointed by our turnout," Devonshire says. "I was also surprised that Barack Obama came out on top of John McCain. We live in a fairly conservative area, a fairly Republican area. I guess it shows how well he sits with teenagers."