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Brainerd High students favor Obama YOUTH VOTE 2008 By KATIE LeCLAIRE
Brainerd High School students believe the right choice for president is Democrat Barack Obama.
On Oct. 28, students at Brainerd High School participated in Youth Vote 2008 in which students voted for state and federal offices. Their votes may not count in the election, but their opinions were certainly heard.
Obama received 55.7 percent of the votes or 588 votes individually.
Republican John McCain received 37.3 percent of the total votes or 394 individual votes. Other candidates, such as Cynthia McKinney, Roger Calero, Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin and Ralph Nader, made up the remaining 7 percent.
There were 1,055 participants in Youth Vote 2008 in the Brainerd School District. Students voted in their first-hour classes or at the voting poll managed by Youth in Government and Fifth Street Journal representatives. As the ballots came in, they were tallied and a running count was kept.
The other offices that students voted on included U.S. senator, U.S. representative and state representative. Republican Sen. Norm Coleman won the vote for U.S. senator with 48 percent of the votes. Democrat Al Franken collected 37 percent of the votes, putting him 11 percentage points behind Coleman.
For the office of U.S. representative, James Oberstar took a solid victory with 65.3 percent of the votes. Michael Cummins collected 34.7 percent of the vote.
John Ward overwhelmingly won the vote for state representative; he ended up with 87.8 percent of the total votes. David Allan Pundt had 12.2 percent of the youths vote.
Two questions were on the ballot. The first question was, "After seeing the changes from the failed referendum from 2007, would you be in favor for it today?" The majority - 65.5 percent - of local high-schoolers voted yes and 34.5 percent voted no.
The second question was, "What most influences your political beliefs?" More than 50 percent - 54.3 percent - think that the media influences them the most, followed by parents at 35 percent. Friends influenced 7.7 percent of the kids and .5 percent felt they were influenced by themselves.
Participants in Youth Vote 2008 were glad to finally get a voice.
"It's important to see how people would vote," senior Garrett Hanson said about Youth Vote 2008. Hanson doesn't think that Youth Vote will affect the real election at all.
The youth got to state their opinions but some think their votes should count. John Wells, sophomore, thinks the government should change the voting age to 16 because "at that age, you get more rights and one of those rights should be to vote."
Ann Jordan, sophomore, thinks the voting age should be changed to 15 or 16. "I am sure that by then, they could make an informed decision." Jordan thinks the vote will matter because "it will have more people stating their opinions and will help sway non-voters to vote."
Senior Lexie Lemke believes the voting age should be 16 or 17. "Children are taking government [classes] in school at that age," Lemke said. Lemke said she believes media influences children the most. "It is everywhere."
Two members of Youth in Government, Luke Gruenhagen and Tom Freeman, both juniors, talked about Youth Vote. "It shows people what the kids want," Gruenhagen said.
"You need to see what kids are thinking," Freeman said. Freeman and Gruenhagen both voted for Obama. Gruenhagen thinks Obama is "the agent of change."
"I think we need change," Freeman said about presidential candidate Obama.
Junior Morgen Streeter voted for McCain, because she likes him and likes "how he states his opinion on the economy." She wants the voting age to be 16, and said, "If we are responsible enough to drive a car and have a job, I think we can handle voting." To non-voters, Streeter said, "You should vote because your vote matters, and it is your duty as a citizen."
The Youth Vote 2008 was sponsored by Burger King, 808 W. Washington St., Brainerd.
KATIE LeCLAIRE is a Brainerd High School senior. This story was written as part of a journalism class assignment.
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