I changed a guy's mind about the election and help him register to vote

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

Today I was in the library and I changed someone's view about the electoral system ... I was there researching for a paper I writing and at the table behind me I heard a guy say " everyone is talking about this election , well you know what I don't care about the election . This is when I , CarolinaPeridot , the political obsessed girl that I am , forgetting all rules of privacy , I turned around and said " WHAT DID YOU SAY ! " . Yes you heard me , he said " I don't care about the election . Nobody listens to me anyway ... look at me I am unemployed , I can't go back to college and I am one step away from joining the military because there is nothing out there for me . "

He is 24 , unemployed , college tuition is expensive and etc . This normally would have turned me in a fit of rage hearing someone say they did not care about the electoral process but I saw a peer someone my age and I figured I could get him to listen ... I asked him what did he know about Bush and Kerry . He told me that he did not agree with Bush's war on Iraq and he thinks the country has went downhill since he stole office . On Kerry he actually agrees on certain points : health care , economy and most importantly getting back to school . He was actually very intelligent . So I told him " you are more in tuned than you think! " . The powerful question was " why are'nt you registered to vote !?!?!? " He said " I don't know how to register . " Ding ding ding ding ding , thats the main problem with people my age , they don't know how to register-to-vote . No one knows about going about to register , something so simple . Something that takes less than 5 minutes . I told this guy " do not move ! " Since we are in the library , they have voter's registration cards and thank God that here in NC , he still has time . He filled out the card right in front of me and the librarian ,( He registered Democrat btw ) and he got a stamp and went outside and slipped it in the mail box . I even went on the internet to find out what polling station he will go to . I made him swear that he will take time on Nov 2 to go and VOTE .

I don't know why , but I feel proud that I encouraged someone my age to get their voice heard and vote ... I hope he finds his way through the world because he was very intelligent and I hope that he does not give up . I thought I was having a bad week and after today , I feel so much better about myself .

[Lavender Brown]

1. You go, girl!

[pagerbear]

2. Excellent!

You are a true patriot!

[babylonsister]

3. You did great!

Besides getting this guy to vote, I'll bet you helped him just by listening to him. Good on ya!

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

4. Yes thats another point that I realized .

Young people my age do not think that anyone is listening to them . Politicians really need to take that into consideration .

[Squeech]

8. When I was a young person your age

we made people listen to us by marching against the Vietnam war. (And by gathering by the hundreds of thousands in farms and race tracks, listening to loud music and swallowing dubious chemicals, but that's another story.)

Now the anti-war marchers cross all the demographic lines, but we boomers still get the credit/blame.

I think you're doing a really good thing there.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

10. I try to do the best that I can :)

I try to do the best that I can , this will probably be the most important election that I will ever have lived through .

[amazona]

5. whoo hoo!

You done good.

[donheld]

6. whoooohoooo

:yourock:

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

7. No HE rocks because he registered ! :)

[Champ]

9. That's Great!

:thumbsup:

You got one more vote for Kerry but you also helped out someone else in the process. You got someone who was not going to vote, willing to let others pick who leads this country to registering Dem and likely voting for Kerry. We need a new direction in this country, more then ever. I hope Kerry KO's Bush in the debates tomorrow.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

11. I really believe that Kerry is going to come to the debates swinging .

I have my fingers crossed that he KO's Dubya all the way back to Crawford .

[nickgutierrez]

12. Nice!

So many of us 'young folk' are just ridiculously uninformed. We know we're uninformed, but instead of motivating us to get the information, we just give up, like this guy did before you helped him out. Every vote counts and blah blah blah, but if nobody votes then nothing ever changes.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

14. Thats exactly right .

Think about how many votes seperated Bush and Gore in Florida in the 2000 Presidential Election . Think about it , what if 1000+ voters would have registered and gone out to vote . That would have made a lot of difference and we would not have Shrub in the office today .

[nickgutierrez]

19. I'm pretty sure I convinced a friend of mine to vote Kerry today, too

His vote is in FL, which could end up deciding the election again, so I've done some good today. :)

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

21. Right on ! Way to go :)

You surely did do something good . I do not want to wake up on November 3 hearing Smirks acceptance speech . I just can't take it .

[LisaLynne]

13. Good job!!! nt

[tjdee]

15. Registration is SUCH a problem.

You are so right, that's a huge issue for first time& young voters.

And NO ONE TELLS THEM. They're talking and talking on the "news" about the debates, but I have not heard ONE anchor say ONE THING about registering, and that you have to register or else you can't vote.

Very frustrating.

Great experience today though! Good for you and him!

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

16. The numbers of people registered to vote would RISE dramatically

if people actually became aware of they can actually register to vote . in my state of North Carolina , the number of newly registered voters that have registered Democrat is through the roof in each county . I pray that we take this thing . :)

[Endangered Specie]

18. Heh, well, take it from me...

We ARE getting people registered, especially on NC campuses. Last I checked the local BOE is bloody swarmed with new voter forms and they are ever so far behind!

Ive directly registered about 50 people so far. :) </brag>

[Lex]

17. To my fellow North Carolinian: I love that story!

And you get :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Way to go!!

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

20. Cool someone from Tarheel country !

Don't you think Burr and Ballantine look like idiots ? I mean really who is Burr running against , Clinton or Bowles ? That debate proved my point : Burr is out of touch with North Carolinians . And what has Elizabeth Dole really done for us ? NOTHING . Fingers crossed that Bowles wins John Edwards' US Senate seat .

[Lex]

22. I hope Burr continues to stay 9 points behind Bowles.

And I don't think Burr's commercials tying Bowles to Clinton are all that effective--maybe in 2000 that would've worked, but people are kind of fatigued from all the Clinton-hate.

Ballentine is just plain creepy. He reminds me of Jeb Bush and that makes me :shudder:

And that damn Elizabeth Dole: :eyes: