Published: February 06, 2008 08:58 am            

2008 election captures attention of young voters

Americans should approach every election like it's their first

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Heidi Dahnke wants to teach children someday. Adults could learn a lot from what she did Tuesday morning.



When the polls opened at 6 o’clock in Martinsville, Dahnke stood ready. The sun hadn’t yet risen over the eastern Illinois farm fields.



On Dahnke’s horizon is college at the University of Illinois-Chicago this fall. Daybreak on Tuesday, though, brought a new and special experience for her. It was Super Tuesday, the Illinois primary, and this 18-year-old’s first chance to vote.



“I was the only one there, me and my dad, that is,” Dahnke said during her lunch break at Martinsville High School a few hours later. “I got the first ballot.”



Grinning proudly, she pointed to an “I Voted” sticker on her sweater, while cradling a textbook.



Such enthusiastic participation was the result Clark County Clerk Bill Downey and others sought when they registered students at Martinsville and Casey-Westfield high schools in recent months. Nearly every single eligible 18-year-old — approximately 70 total — registered, Downey said.



The 2008 campaign has captured the attention of young people more so than any other presidential race in Downey’s 17 years as clerk. Even in his role as an assistant basketball coach at Martinsville High School, Downey gets occasional questions from the teenage players during bus rides after games.



“They’re asking me political questions, more and more,” he said.



This political season is unique. For the first time since 1928, there isn’t an incumbent president or vice president running in the primaries. There’s never been such a super Super Tuesday, with 24 states conducting primaries or caucuses simultaneously. The nation ultimately could elect its first black president (Barack Obama), its first woman president (Hillary Clinton) or its first Mormon president (Mitt Romney).



In an atmosphere of firsts, the opportunity to vote for the first time felt empowering to Dahnke and some classmates. Choosing the party nominees for president of the United States validates their adulthood.



“We have a say in things now,” said 18-year-old Jordan Galloway, lingering inside her government classroom while fellow seniors filed past on their way to lunch. Having a voice in a national election feels “amazing,” she added.



Dahnke, Galloway and classmate Wesleigh Hewitt analyzed their voting decisions and did their homework, literally. One of their assignments was to research a candidate, not of their choosing. Galloway drew Dennis Kucinich, a liberal longshot, who has since dropped out of the Democratic field. As she studied Kucinich, Galloway quickly realized he wasn’t her choice.



“I would never vote for him, ever,” she said. “Everything he’s for, I’m against.”



By contrast, Dahnke and Hewitt were assigned John McCain, and liked what they found. In fact, the independent Republican became the top choice for Dahnke, Hewitt and Galloway.



Though McCain is the senior candidate in the field, these young women think his age is an asset. “He’s mature,” Hewitt said. Indeed, McCain would be the most chronologically mature president in U.S. history, if elected, at 72 years. They also agree with his stance on the Iraq war, where McCain has endorsed President Bush’s troop surge. They weren't alone. McCain won traditionally their county, traditionally conservative Clark County, with 955 votes, topping Mike Huckabee's 694 and Mitt Romney's 413. McCain's total also exceeded the home-state U.S. senator Barack Obama, who led Democrats in Clark County with 918 votes. McCain also won the majority of Illinois' delegates.



Martinsville, a town of 1,225 residents, rests just south of U.S. 40, the historic National Road. By autumn, Dahnke, Hewitt and Galloway will be off to college. Two will start out at Lake Land College in Mattoon, and then Galloway will pursue nursing at Eastern Illinois University, and Hewitt will study athletic training at Indiana State.



Dahnke plans to major in elementary education at Illinois-Chicago, where she’ll also play basketball for the Flames. Anyone who saw her voting Tuesday morning probably noticed she stands 6-foot-1. “They said they could see my head through the top [of the voting booth],” she said, laughing.



Hewitt and Galloway opted to vote after school. By lunch time, both were growing anxious. “I’m kind of nervous,” Galloway said. “It’s just like anything you do for the first time. It’s exciting.”



What a difference it would make if all of us looked at every election like it was our first chance to vote.







Mark Bennett writes for The Tribune Star in Terre Haute, Ind