By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -

Photography: CRISTINA CABRERA | FC

MIAMI | Tired of Hillary versus Trump? As that sometimes R-rated presidential campaign comes to a close, the children of St. Michael the Archangel School learned about democracy with a different kind of election — one they could literally sink their teeth into.

Decision 2016 for St. Michael’s youngest students was a four-way race among Oreos, animal crackers, chocolate chip and sugar cookies.

The mock election was part of a schoolwide STREAMS project that impacted every grade and subject: science, social studies, technology, religion, engineering, arts and math.

The students learned about voting and the election process by going to their own polls Oct. 13. Representatives of the Miami-Dade County elections department visited the school and explained how the real votes are cast and counted.

While the PreK3 through second graders voted for their favorite cookie, third through fifth graders voted for their class representative and sixth through eighth graders voted for student council officers: president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary.

In the most delectable of the elections, a clear winner emerged: Oreos.

Jomarcus Montoca, a second grader and Oreo cookie supporter, made sure that his classmates voted for what he believed was the best candidate. “They are better, and they taste like chocolate and vanilla,” he said.

As students waited in line at the polls, they yelled rival cheers.

“Chocolate chip,” a pod of first graders chanted.

“Oreos,” exclaimed kindergartners.

Kindergarten teacher Liset Lizano, who represented the chocolate chip cookie party, said even though the students are too young to vote, they are surrounded by presidential politics because of what they hear at home, on TV and the Internet.

“To teach them the process of how to pick two candidates and how to vote is important,” Lizano said. “But since they’re too little they don’t know what and who candidates are, so we did it on cookies and they chose their favorite cookie. In a way, it teaches them that they can choose in life what they want.”

Second grade teacher Maria Rubio agreed, adding that they will recreate the cookie election in the next four years to teach future students the importance of voting and making a decision for themselves.

“It’s very important because we help them make the decisions while they’re in the classrooms, whether it’s cookies or favorite animals,” said Rubio. “When they’re older they need to pay attention to the details and vote for the candidate that they feel will do the job the best.”