Teens tackle election issues

It’s that time of year, Americans fighting, yelling and angrily sharing facebook photos and quotes about politics. Just about everyone has an opinion, but not everyone cares enough to get out and vote.

Young people are notoriously the most difficult to persuade to get to the polls. Typically, 18-24 year olds show up to the polls the least. According to the U.S. Census, even in the historic 2008 election, only 49 percent of the youngest age bracket showed up to vote compared to 60 percent of 25-44 year olds, 69 percent of 45-64 year olds and 70 percent of 65 year olds and over.

Senior Luke Zahari is already registered to vote and plans on voting in the 2012 presidential election. Zahari feels strongly about voting. “That is the way I can express my voice in the representative government,” Zahari said. However, Zahari still hasn’t decided who he is going to vote for, for president. “I don’t like either of them to be perfectly honest. I am certainly not voting for Obama. I’m either voting Romney or third party,” Zahari said.

Senior Claire Conrad also believes it’s important to vote. “I have the opportunity, and I feel it is my responsibility,” Conrad said. She also is still deciding who to vote for. “The economy is the biggest thing for me. I want to vote for whoever will get the economy back where it should be,” Conrad said.

Senior Ellen Jones is also in the process of deciding who to vote for. “I’m not entirely sure at this point, but I’m leaning toward Romney,” Jones said. Even though Jones is still making her decision on a candidate, Jones feels it is her responsibility to vote now that she is 18. “I just feel like it’s what I’m suppose to do. I feel like I have a right to now that I’m 18,” Jones said. She’s beginning to pay closer attention to what’s going on during the campaign. “I’m just starting to really look into it. I watched both national conventions on TV. I’d never watched the national conventions before. It just seemed like a very different atmosphere between the two of them,” Jones said.

While a few students are still on the fence about who to vote for, senior Jay Morales has very strong feelings about who he wants to vote for in November. “I’m voting for Mitt Romney because I don’t think Obama did a very good job and he raised the debt over four trillion dollars. [Obama] said Bush raised the debt four trillion dollars, but Obama raised it the same in half the amount of time. I don’t think he deserves another four years,” Morales said.

Like Morales, senior Hannah Mallaro is quite confident in her voting plans, although she is voting in favor of the other party. “I want to vote because it is our civil duty and my opportunity to participate in selecting political leaders,” Mallaro said. Mallaro made her decision on a presidential candidate based on the issues that affect her. “Some issues that are important to be are education and women’s equality because they are currently affecting me. I am voting for Obama because I believe he is the best option to lead our country for the next four years,” Mallaro said.