First Time Voters Coming Out of the Woodwork

During this election cycle, the number of first time voters getting involved is phenomenal. I tracked down a voter who had registered just for the upcoming election and asked her what motivated her to register this year. Shoshana, from Denver, told me the following:

I am one of those Americans who has not felt their vote to be very important in past presidential elections. Fortunately, because of my age, I have only been eligible to vote in one other presidential election. At that time, I was studying abroad in Australia and found it to be much too troublesome to get an absentee ballot. I also didn’t feel as if there were a clear candidate to vote for: W had failed to make many good choices while in office, but Kerry wasn’t going to be able to live up to his promises, so I didn’t know where that would lead us.

In any case, I feel this election is much too important to pass up the chance to practice my right to vote. I feel that the American people have two worthwhile candidates running for president. It is truly amazing how divided the candidates are on very important issues, and further how the American people mirror that division in the polls.

The issues that I find to be the most important are foremost the economy, which negatively impacts nearly every American, including myself, foreign affairs, especially our plans in the middle east for Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran, health care reform and energy. Both candidates seem to agree that change is a necessity, but they have very different plans for attempting to solve these issues. I also need change in my life and believe my candidate offers the package that will succeed in that end, so I am going to vote for him.

Hopefully my vote in this election will not be my first and my last; however, I would find it hard to believe that I will feel as passionate about my vote in all upcoming elections.