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As political science faculty at East Central University, a small teaching-oriented state school located in rural Oklahoma, we are constantly challenged to provide our students with novel approaches to learning. Oklahoma's traditionalistic political culture is demonstrated to us daily as our students seem to envision themselves as subjects of an inscrutable system rather than potent democratic actors. To enhance understanding of issues related to campaigns and elections, we developed a six-week simulation in which upper-level political science students participated as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, as a member of a campaign team, or as a member of the media. Approximately 200 of our Introduction to American Government students were called upon to be the voters in our simulation, a role for which many of our students cast the first ballots of their lives.