He donned his father's old police uniform and, on his lunch hour, thoughtfully cast his vote for George W. Bush.

Gardiner's family members, who have worked in law enforcement and tend to vote Republican, influenced both decisions. But the 17-year-old senior, who also serves as the president of the Utah Teenage Republicans, has at least one surprise.

He voted for Democrat Scott Matheson Jr. in Utah's gubernatorial race.

"I've had a chance to study all the candidates and issues and, to me, he just seems more sincere about wanting to help Utah," Gardiner said. "I'm also voting 'no' on the marriage initiative because I think it is meaningless. Polygamy is already illegal, and it hasn't done anything to stop them, so far."

Layton High was one of dozens of Utah schools that signed up to participate in the mock election.

As part of the experience, students crafted campaign signs, staged debates and had to register in advance to cast a ballot. About 850 of the school's 1,800 students registered. That's up from previous years, said history teacher Lark Woodbury, who will report the numbers to the Utah lieutenant governor's office even though they won't count in the official election.

"This is only the second time we've done this, so I don't know if more kids are aware of it this time around or if they are increasingly concerned about what's going on in the world," Woodbury said.

Along with the ballot, students filled out a survey listing their top concerns in this year's election. Halfway through Tuesday's mock vote, the election judges - aka three members of Layton High's PTA - had tallied up the responses.

Among the students' biggest concerns were the war on terrorism, the economy, security and lower taxes. Bush, gubernatorial hopeful Jon Huntsman Jr. and every other Republican on the ballot all had strong leads in the political races at Layton High - though the official statewide results won't be revealed until today.

That's hardly surprising in Republican stronghold Davis County, where voters have not elected a Democrat in a dozen years. In fact, one of the biggest challenges Layton High faces in the mock election is digging up enough Democrats to sponsor debates and other activities that go along with the program, Principal Paul Smith says.

"We try to mirror what might happen out in the community," Smith said. "But, in order for this to be effective, we felt we had to manipulate it a little bit and make it so there would be an equal number of signs for both parties."

Junior Krista Howard says she gets her political leanings from her parents, who frequently vote for Democrats. But she says she genuinely opposes Bush's handling of the war on terrorism.

"It's hard to say much publicly because there are so many people for the other side," she said. "I try, but I usually just end up sitting back and listening instead."

lorib@sltrib.com

Statewide results from Tuesday's mock election, in which more than 75,000 schoolchildren statewide were expected to participate, will be announced today.