It Feels like the First Time

Sarah Zeblisky, of Raleigh, drove her 18-year-old godson Tim Blaylock (pictured) to Wake Technical Community College’s one-stop voting site last Tuesday. Voting for the first time, Blaylock says the experience was “quick.” Initially turned off from the polls, Blaylock changed his mind after realizing the history behind his ballot. “I realized that some people had died for people to have a chance to vote so I might as well go and do it,” said Blaylock, who plans to study business when he starts college later this year. He described the contest as “historical.”

Like many voters, Margaret Grady, of Garner, took to the polls early – waiting in line on the second day of one-stop voting at Chavis Community Center before executing her civic duty.

Beforehand, she worked hard to learn about the issues and the candidates, even those further down the ballot.

“I knew who I was going to vote for as president for quite some time but the other local offices like the judges, I had to look at that more because I wanted to make an informed decision and not just slap something down,” Grady said. She paid special attention to talk on alternative energy, the environment and gay rights – issues she says are important to her.

A generation ago, the 18-year-old may have seemed naïve, but in the face of the most pivotal election in recent memory, Grady is one of many young voters who have stepped into the booth for the first time equipped with a political sensibility.

On the national level and in swing states like North Carolina, youth are in full force at the polls: the number of new voters is up compared with past presidential elections, according to election data.

That trend is happening locally, as well. Of Wake County’s registered voters, nearly 36,000 are aged 17-21 (approximately 6 percent) – all too young to vote in the 2004 election.

In Garner, that number is 1,105.

Grady, a freshman at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, is proudly one of them, bristling at the notion that age undermines her ability to decide.

“The idea that just because people are young then they haven’t had enough life experience,” she said. “Please. I’m not pretending that I can speak from the same perspective as people that are older but that doesn’t mean I don’t have life experience.

“I respect my elders and I respect where they are coming from. They should be able to respect where young people are coming from because they were once there themselves,” Grady said.

How Are They Getting Informed?
Like other voters, Grady has used a variety of sources from both traditional and new media to learn about the candidates and their platforms. Internet resources like Google News searches are helpful on specific topics, she says. She also regularly reads the News and Observer and the New York Times, which is free on campus; Newpapers offer a fuller picture of issues, says Grady, an English major.

They helped her sift through the gubernatorial race.

“I got to listen to all of them talk instead of hearing little sound bites which is the irritating thing,” Grady said. “If you watch the national news and – to some degree – the local news, all you get are these bitty little flashes of what the candidate say and you can’t get the context or what they think about different issues.”

“You have to go to different places to find that information,” Grady said.

Young voters also go to their social networks for information, experts say. The trend follows the emergence of voters who are actively selecting their political information through venues such as Facebook, YouTube and text messaging. Young people are relying less on passively digesting political information and in some cases are creating their own political information.

“First-time voters have grown up in the age of the internet so they are used to having access to a lot of information, and they are comfortable seeking information out and being able to discern and separate the wheat from the chaff,” said Sam Dorman, a managing director of The League of Young Voters, a group based in Brooklyn, N.Y., that works to engage young voters in swing states - particularly those off of college campuses.

Recently, Dorman has seen many voters producing online videos to inform others about down-ballot races.

Grady says her friends more than her parents carry weight on her choice.

“The opinions of my peers have a lot of influence because they are also looking at these things.”

That helped her decide who to vote for in the primaries – particularly when it came to environmental issues, a topic she believes is important and not discussed enough by candidates.

“It’s my generation that is going to have to deal with all this stuff so that is really important to me,” said Grady, who believes strongly that her vote matters in these elections.

Dorman agrees.

“It matters a great deal. Young people are finally getting overdue recognition for being a powerful voting bloc that can influence elections,” he said.

 Campaigns are sitting up and taking notice and investing resources to try and cultivate that. It is even deeper than one election because numerous studies have shown that voting patterns are established early, and that has implications for elections to come.”

Young people are coming to the same conclusion.

“I never really understood why you wouldn’t vote. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain,” says Katie Daniels, 19, of Apex, a veterinarian technology student at Wake Technical Community College.

She is concerned how this election will affect student loans, taxes and her family.

“If I didn’t have a voice, they would not let me vote,” Daniels said.

“This election has just upped the ante so much,” Grady said.

She is coming home from campus to watch the elections in Garner.

“It seems that everyone I talk to is involved and has an opinion. I know people who haven’t bothered or cared before, and now they are going out to vote, and they have opinions and they care about what’s going on. Part of that is the fire that this election has ignited everywhere but I think it is also the inherent interest of young people in their future.”

On the whole, Dorman says the diversity of first-time voters makes it difficult to generalize about them, but on the whole, they tend to have become more progressive in recent elections.

“I think we’re seeing a pretty savvy generation politically and one that is making the ties between social justice and politics. At the same time people need outreach, they need to be targeted, and they need people to speak to them and their interests. So there is definitely correlation between how much a group is being spoken to and how likely they are to be engaged to turn out.

 “That said, it will be hard to know how predictable anything is until Nov. 5,” Dorman said.

In the meantime, young voters are savoring their first time.

“I felt really lucky that the first time I got to vote was in this election,” Grady said. “It was a really great experience.”