By Gray Forrester
Senior year is a year full of firsts, but this year, that is especially true for many of our seniors who will be voting in their first Presidential Election. The election is set for Tuesday November 6th and will feature a bout between current President Barack Obama and Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney. To gain an inside look into how the seniors are preparing for the election, lets have a look into the mind of Aaron Phillips and Scott Proffitt.
There are many tasks that a voter must do in order to prepare him or herself for the election, namely researching the candidates and their platforms and registering to vote.
“I have registered to vote and educated myself on the candidates and their views on important topics at hand,” said Aaron, who plans to vote at Capshaw. Scott Proffitt, who will be eligible to vote admitted, on the other hand, that he hasn’t done too much to prepare.
There is also the decision as to how you will determine who you will vote for. Will you vote strictly by party as Scott does, or will you vote on the individual as Aaron does? “I definitely vote based on the individual. If we were to vote solely upon the party of the candidates at hand it would only be limiting. I, personally, would like to make a conscious decision after reviewing both candidates thoroughly. As a citizen, one should want to make a rationally and personally beneficial decision, as opposed to thoughtlessly dropping an uneducated vote for a candidate that might not truly have your interest at hand,” stated Aaron.
This election does come with the controversial new law of the Voter ID. Both Aaron and Scott agree that the law isn’t too harsh. Scott put it this way, “I think it is a very essential part of voting. Many people in the past have been registering dead people to vote and getting away with it. This will prevent that.”
When asked whether we could possibly see their names on a future presidential ballot, Scott stated a definite “No” and Aaron only left a sliver of hope when he said, “Probably not. Perhaps I’ll become mayor somewhere in my middle age. It’s all dependent upon what happens between now and then, I’ll suppose.”
