Home  News Local News Youth turning out the vote
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Youth turning out the vote |
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Written by Dr. Garth A. Rose
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Sunday, 02 November 2008 |
Judging from the turn out of young voters, under age 25, at polling places during early voting, it is apparent that the youth is definitely responding to this general elections.
When the National Weekly visited early voting sites last weekend, significant numbers of young voters were seen patiently and enthusiastically waiting in the long lines.
At the West Kendal Regional Library on Saturday, where the wait to vote was three hours, the line of over 200 voters included some 50 young people, most of them high school students voting for the first time. A group of five students from Killian High School passed the time exchanging notes for an upcoming test said they didn’t mind the long wait.
Larraine Sloley, 18, said she was thrilled to be voting. “It makes me feel special to be involved in electing the next president and to bring change to America.” Sloley said that several students were registered to vote at her school and most would be voting, and voting early to avoid any “hang-up” on Election Day.
Another student, Morgan Thompson, 19, a freshman at the South West Miami campus of Miami-Dade College, said she was willing to wait all day to vote as these elections were about people her age. “In the future we will be running the country so we must set a firm foundation by our votes in these elections.”
Over at the Kendall Branch Library, youth voters comprised some 50 percent of the line of over 150 people. Francine Moore, 18, was there with her parents and older brothers. Her father, Denzil, said that Francine pushed the family to get out early that morning to vote. “That’s right,” said Francine. “I told them we can’t risk our votes. Our entire future rests on this election.”
The youth vote was also very obvious at the Miramar City Hall. Here, a gregarious Caribbean-American young man, Brad Fisher, 20, walked up and down the line handing out bottles of water, shouting, “Don’t mind the wait. Three hours is a small sacrifice to prevent four more bad years.” Fisher said he voted earlier in the week, but on Saturday made several trips in his mini-van transporting over 40 young voters to City Hall. “This is very exciting. Trust me. The youth will make the difference this time.”
There are reports that in Broward County public schools have organized buses to take students to polling stations throughout the county. It was estimated that hundreds of registered first-time voters from 38 schools would be bused to polling stations in Broward by Friday of this week.
Apart from electing a new president, the youth were also focused on the constitutional amendments on the ballot, particularly Amendments 2 – regarding the interpretation of marriage, and Amendment 8 – re the raising of taxes to fund community colleges.
Most interviewed were against Amendment 2. Libby Saunds, 21, said she was against the amendment as it would affect her grandmother and her partner who were unmarried but had acquired valuable assets together, which they would lose if the amendment is approved. “I really don’t want to vote to support same-sex marriages, but the amendment also affects heterosexual couples who live together, and that’s unfair.”
The majority were in favor of raising taxes to help finance community colleges. Adrian McKnight, 20, said, “Community colleges belong to the communities so they should share in funding them.” On Tuesday there were reports of students from Miami-Dade College, demonstrating in support of Amendment 8.
The Florida Division of Elections reported that over 1.3 million early votes were cast up to October 28, and estimated that 2 million people would have voted when early voting ends on November 2. In Broward County it is estimated that over 200,000 voters will have voted, and in Miami-Dade over 250,000.
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