The kids who came to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office for Take Your Child Day made their choices for president known: eight votes for Hillary Clinton and four for Ted Cruz.

In addition to participating in a mock primary and general election, the children — ranging in ages from 17 to 7 — enjoyed a pancake breakfast, a visit with Secretary of State Wayne Williams and a tour of the state Capitol this morning.

Williams, who has four children, easily chatted with the youngsters.

For the elections, the children watched videos of the candidates and made their choices known in their primary.

Clinton beat Bernie Sanders seven votes to five votes. Cruz took first place with five votes in the GOP primary, while John Kasich received four votes and Trump three. Then it was on to the general election.

Afterward, 8-year-old-old Will Polk, the stepson of staffer Melissa Polk in elections, had a question for elections director Judd Choate.

“Do our votes count?” he wanted to know.

“He was very disappointed when I said, ‘No,’” Choate relayed, adding he told the children they could register to vote when they were 16 and vote at age 18.

Rich Schliep said his son Tyler, 13, enjoyed learning about “signature verification.”

There’s a lot of talk about that these days in the office because of efforts by four Republicans to get on the U.S. Senate primary ballot through voter signatures.

On a personal note, I brought my niece Polly, who turned 10 today, and nephew Max, 11. On the drive in, I told them my boss was 6-feet-4.

“Is he scary?” Max wanted to know.

“No, he’s really nice,” said Polly, who has met Williams before.

Here are the children who are in the photograph with Secretary Williams:

Back row: Namira and Abbas Jr., children of Abbas Montoya; Williams; and Tyler Schliep, son of Rich Schliep.

Secondish row, the three to the left: Max and Polly Bungum, nephew and niece of Lynn Bartels; and Lily Bryant, daughter of Albert Bryant.

First row: Ali Mikeworth, daughter of Kathryn Mikeworth; Ethan and Cassidy Fletcher, grandchildren of Lynn Waring; Jackie Choate, daughter of Judd Choate; Will Polk, stepson of Melissa Polk; and twins Hailey and Brooke Schliep.

To read more posts by Lynn Bartels, visit her official blog at the Colorado Secretary of State’s website.