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Svetlana Nelson, a senior at Bland High School, checks in before casting her first vote last week at the Lutheran Presbyterian Fellowship Hall in Bland. Photo by Jean Farley

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Budding ‘balloteers’

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

Some went Republican, others went Democrat.
But there was one common thought going through the minds of 18-year-olds in Bland and Wythe counties as they cast their first votes last week.
“Don’t screw up, that’s about it,” said Fort Chiswell High School senior Anthony Whisman, echoing the sentiments expressed by his peers.
Whisman and three other local students, FCHS senior Ellen Cox and Bland High School seniors Ethan Jones and Svetlana Nelson, were anxious before stepping into the voting booth for the first time, but afterword reported that the process was a breeze.
“Well, that was easy,” Nelson said as she left the Lutheran Presbyterian Fellowship Hall in Bland after voting.
Nelson arrived at her polling place after school with ID in hand and completed the entire process in just a few minutes.
Cox similarly reported no problems in casting her vote at FCHS around 5 p.m. on Nov. 4.
“I was in and out in like 5 minutes,” she said by phone the following day.
Nelson had said earlier that she was leaning toward voting for Democrat Barack Obama, but only reluctantly as she said she wasn’t passionate about either candidate.
After leaving the polls, though, she said she had decided not to second-guess herself.
“I was just picking out whoever I chose before I came here because I learned you might as well not change your mind right when you’re at it because I have very bad experiences with tests,” she said. “I’ll change my mind right before I turn it in and it’s always wrong.”
Whisman, on the other hand, said he took the time in the voting booth to think over the debates he’d watched and other information he’d learned about the candidates during the last few months before deciding to stick with his plan to vote for Republican John McCain.
“I stayed with Sen. McCain,” he said Nov. 4 from the parking lot of the Max Meadows Volunteer Fire Department. “I think he’s a good man and I think he’ll do our country some good.”
But Whisman said his Election Day experience wouldn’t be tarnished if Obama, as he later did, came out on top.
“It’s just kind of a good opportunity to come out and support our country and have an opportunity to have a say-so in who gets in and it kind of makes me feel special that I can have my say now,” Whisman said.
“I’ve always looked forward to being able to vote and pick who I want to be in office. Maybe I’ll get who I want, maybe I won’t, but it’s the principle of the thing that I get to have my opportunity to say what I want to say.”
Jones, who said by phone last week that he voted with his family at the Mechanicsburg Community Center before school on Nov. 4, had reported previously that he remained undecided.
Like Nelson, though, he eventually decided on Obama as the “lesser of two evils.”
Despite his lack of enthusiasm for the presidential candidates, Jones said it never really crossed his mind not to vote.
“I was planning on voting at least for the Senate anyways,” he said. “The teacher always says that if you don’t vote, you ain’t got a say in it.”
Along with saying it was her responsibility as a citizen to vote, Nelson also echoed Jones’ comments in adding that she felt like she had to cast a ballot in order to be able to criticize politicians.
She also said that her vote for Obama was even more so a vote to keep Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin out of the White House.
“She’s of the same level about as Jessica Simpson for me,” Nelson said about Palin. “She’s pretty dumb.”
Nelson added that she found the whole political process in the months before the election surprisingly interesting, saying she enjoyed watching both the serious debates and the goofy “Saturday Night Live” skits.
Cox declined to officially say who she voted for last week, saying she believes in ballot secrecy, but expressed prior to voting that she was leaning more toward McCain.
She said that she’d thought about not voting, but after speaking with her dad realized that she should consider her “civic duty” to be an honor.
Like Nelson, Cox said she enjoyed becoming more knowledgeable about politics as she studied the candidates – although she added that she feels like she’s got a lot left to learn.
“I’d like to learn more as I get older about politics,” Cox said, citing the Electoral College as an area that remains somewhat mystifying.
All four of the high school seniors said their first voting experience made them even more excited about participating in future elections.
“All in all it feels like a great opportunity,” Whisman said. “It was kind of fun as a first-time deal and I’m looking forward to voting again.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 1-800-655-1406 or .