To Tell or Not to Tell

All right,
I am in middle school right now and with the elections, the children have been very involved. In the social studies class the children are required to watch the debates and continue a running tab on who they would vote for after each debate. Given these activities I have been bombarded with questions, "Who are you going to vote for? I like so and so, I am going to vote for that person, what about you? " I caught myself right off the bat saying you know I don't really know.... But then the child responded "ahh come on you know who you are going to vote for," I responded saying that I was going to watch the debate and then think about it some more, hoping that the child will not ask me tomorrow about who I wanted to vote for. So my dilemma is why is it that it is recommended for teachers not to talk about who they will vote for with the children.

In the Teacher magazine there is an article that discusses about teachers in Colorado that are not allowed to talk about personal voting. Why is this such an issue? I feel as if I would be able to discuss with the children about the reasons why I would vote for this person and help the children understand maybe the procedure about why one person would vote a certain way versus for the other person. I think that it could be really beneficial for the children to understand what is the procedure as well as looking at both sides. I think that it is important, to look at both sides and not just portray one party.

So my question to you is that if you have a classroom, will you share with the students who you will be voting for? Why or why not?