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Stepping into the Voting Booth in NY
"When I tried to convince them, their attitude was that the race in New York was already decided, so their vote didn’t matter"
By Donald Moore
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There’s been a huge buzz about the influence of young voters in this election. Commentator Donald Moore is part of that trend. He calls himself a political junkie and is following the race online with friends. He sent his observations about the experience of actually stepping in the booth to vote on Super Tuesday…and checking out the scene at his polling place in Brooklyn, New York.
I’m proud to say I voted in my first presidential primary. And even though I’m 19 years old, I went to the polling place with my parents.
My dad is seventy and he’s voted in I don’t know how many dozens of elections…He’s never seen so many people voting in our neighborhood.
And it wasn’t hard to miss all the first time voters. There were a lot of young people that looked about 20 asking the poll workers questions about the process of voting. I even found myself confused when I got into the booth. The ballot had Super Delegates as one of the options. I didn’t know I was going to have to vote for elected officials that serve as delegates at the national convention.
But besides that, I felt good about my vote. I consider myself a political junkie. Since the caucuses in Iowa, I've been following the election. I’m having online conversations with my friends about every twist and turn…and debating the issues in chat rooms.
For a while, though, many of my friends weren’t planning on voting. When I tried to convince them, their attitude was that the race in New York was already decided, so their vote didn’t matter. They felt like they had no say.
That changed about a month ago.
Now, it feels like many of my friends have a vested interest in the candidates. And it’s more than just a vote to them. I don’t want to say they see it as a life or death decision, but they are taking it really seriously. And I felt that on voting day.
I had an argument with one friend on instant messenger. He hadn’t made up his mind on the presidential candidates. When he told me what he was thinking, I thought some of his ideas were messed up. After that, he refused to talk to me. He said I was trying to sway his vote. But I wanted him to have valid reasons behind his choices.
My friends are used to me talking about the issues. When we’re online, we really get into it.
I’m already checking who voted and who didn’t. Not everyone went to the polls, but those who did, didn’t all vote the same way. We’re still arguing about that. To me, that's better than not talking about it at all.
As for my parents, they’re just happy I’m carrying on the tradition in my family of voting…And they remind me that there was a time when a black man like me couldn’t vote at all.
Donald Moore is a reporter with Youth Communication.
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