9:15 p.m.: PRIMARY: Election inspires youth

Election 2012

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May 6, 2008

By Kayley Frank The Herald Bulletin Tue May 06, 2008, 09:23 PM EDT

When Anderson resident Peter Lyon first decided to run on the Republican ticket for county commissioner, his biggest concern wasn’t his campaign platform or raising money.

Instead, one of his major apprehensions was his age. Turning 24 at the end of May, Lyon is one of the youngest people ever to run for public office in Madison County. “I’ve always loved politics,” he said. “But at the beginning of my campaign, I was worried that people might think I was too young.”

Lyon isn’t the only one in his age group to take part in the political process this spring. According to a survey conducted by the New Voter’s Project, 21 percent of the electorate is made up of people between the ages of 18-29, and surveys at this year’s primaries have recorded record voter turnout for people in this age bracket.

Anderson University sophomore Rasheeda Shamsid-Deen, who is originally from Hobart, Ind., came out to the polls Tuesday afternoon for the first time. “This is my first time voting,” she said. “I wanted to see what it was like.”

Additionally, like many other young voters, Shamsid-Deen was motivated to go out and vote because of the interest surrounding the Democratic presidential primary. Shamsid-Deen said she attended Michelle Obama’s speech on the university’s campus several weeks ago. “I really liked what she had to say,” she said. “I’ll probably be getting a car this summer, so issues like gas prices really matter to me.”

But Anderson’s young people weren’t only out voting — many of them were also spending time serving as poll workers or campaign volunteers.

Anderson resident Jasmine Watts, 19, served as a poll worker Tuesday, and according to her, participating in politics is something that’s been important to her for almost her entire life. “I’ve worked at the polls since I was 15,” she said. “My grandfather, Merle Jones, has been really involved in local politics and it just seems to run in the family.”

Jill Hartzell, a high school senior from Anderson, volunteered some of her time at New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s Anderson campaign office Tuesday afternoon. Though she was required to volunteer with a campaign for her government class, she said that she’s seen a lot of young people getting involved with politics this year. “They want to speak up,” she said. “I just turned 18, and this is the first time I’ve gotten to vote. It’s a cool experience to be involved.”

And according to Lyon, though some might have seen him as too young and inexperienced to run for office, it’s younger candidates like himself that encourage young voters to take part in the political process. “Madison County is an aging population, so young blood can be a good thing,” he said. “I saw a lot of young voters at the polls on Tuesday, and they might not have voted if there hadn’t been young candidates like myself to vote for.”

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9:15 p.m.: PRIMARY: Election inspires youth

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