The 2008 presidential campaign is already notable for the number of new voters it is attracting. Here is what some of them had to say.

“I don’t want to go through the Depression”

Her Republican parents don’t know but Margalit Haber will be casting her first presidential ballot in favor of Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

“I’m really excited, even though I know it won’t count since New York is going to Obama anyway,” said Haber, a 21-year-old Brooklyn College senior who waits tables at a Park Slope burger joint to pay the bills. “I might as well be one more.”

Haber watched the presidential debates and fit bits and pieces of both parties’ conventions into her busy schedule.

Originally the economy didn’t top her list of issues but the financial crisis scared her.

“I don’t want to go through the Depression. It’s the most urgent and pressing issue at the moment,” she said.

Haber is also a supporter of socializing healthcare.

“I think it’s absurd that young professionals can’t afford healthcare in such a wealthy country. It’s a basic human need to maintain your health and it shouldn’t be an issue of whether you can afford it,” said Haber.

“I actually registered three times,” she said. “I’m not sure if it worked, but I assume with those odds, I’m good to go.” - Simone Herbin.

Fixing the Schools

First-time voter Stephanie Bass, 21, says that Barack Obama’s “Change we can believe in” slogan convinced her to vote for the Illinois senator.

“I’m an education major and after the No Child Left Behind Act has ruined our schools, I’m in no hurry to give another Republican the White House,” the Brooklyn College senior said. The law, which aims to hold schools accountable for improving students’ performance, was supported by officials from both parties - but Obama has said repeatedly that it was not adequately funded.

Bass said that since Sen. John McCain has closely supported President George W. Bush, who signed No Child Left Behind into law, he would likely continue the Bush administration’s emphasis on standardized tests. “We cannot allow McCain to enforce these standardized tests on students,” she said.

Bass, a Bensonhurst native, plans to graduate in 2010, then seek a master’s degree and become a public school teacher.

“I just hope by the time I become a teacher Obama will have righted all the wrongs our school system has endured,” she said.
- Anthony Castellano

Worries over College, Health Costs

Ashley Houk did not vote in the last election, despite being eligible. “I’m sorry. I was studying abroad and was too busy partying to really submit my absentee ballot in time,” she said. “… And then once the results came in, I felt a great deal of guilt for my country.”

This time around, the 23-year-old aspiring journalist from Brooklyn’s Williamsburg section is planning to cast her ballot. She’ll have to make time from looking for employment in the journalism field and managing an American Apparel store.

Houk, an Arizona native who owes a heavy debt on school loans and lacks health insurance, cites education and health care costs as the two most important issues in the upcoming election. As the primaries progressed, these issues eventually led her to Barack Obama, although her original choice was Democrat Dennis Kucinich. She said that Obama is “the better of the two candidates” in the general election and that she staunchly opposes John McCain.

“I’m excited that there is an African American running” she says brightly. “And I’m excited that he is interested in my opinion and my thoughts and in what I want to see happen.” - Lauren Soroken

`What difference am I going to make?’

Liza Paul did not think it was important to vote in the last presidential election. “To be honest, there were so many people voting that I thought: ‘What difference am I going to make?’ ” said the 24-year-old pre-med student from Brooklyn’s Cypress Hill section,

But Paul, a receptionist at the Brooklyn College computing lab and certified nursing assistant who lived in Guyana before moving to New York 15 years ago, said she will vote for the first time in her life on Nov. 4.

Her choice for president is Barack Obama. “First, Obama is a Democrat and I am a Democrat,” said Paul, who initially favored Sen. Hillary Clinton. “Obama was my alternative choice.”

Paul said she supports Obama because he is from a humble background – candidates are usually from a white, elite upper class, she said.

Said Paul: “It’s about time the country stop looking at the color of your skin and look at your integrity and intelligence.” - Vanessa Lynn

Helping Immigrants

Pennsylvania native Jennifer Johnson, 20, has nothing good to say about her task of voting for the first time on Nov. 4.

Johnson said she will only vote because of her “sense of responsibility,” as she does not believe her choice – Sen. Barack Obama– will bring about a real change in the way Washington deals with crucial issues

Back in 2006, Johnson spent 11 months in Peru, which she described as a “generous country” that offered her access to all public services without inquiring about her immigration status. Her experience overseas greatly differs from that of her boyfriend, a Peruvian immigrant who has been denied many opportunities during seven years in the United States due to his undocumented status.

This sense of guilt about her country’s treatment of immigrants has made immigration the major factor in Johnson’s choice of a presidential candidate.

To her eyes, Obama is “not anti-immigrant.” Yet, Johnson is skeptical that he will help legalize undocumented workers, saying “he would just work within what the anti-immigrant majority wants.”

Although unenthusiastic about any of the possible outcomes, Johnson said nothing will prevent her from voting in November. “I must do it,” she says. - Juan Toro

Getting His Attention

Joe Rodriguez, 24, a junior researcher at NYU Langone Medical Center, is keeping an open mind as he prepares to vote for the first time in a presidential election.

Rodriguez said he has been reading economic and political articles and looking at information offered on news channels and the blogsphere. He also has watched the candidates’ debates, going back to the Democratic and Republican primaries.

After watching the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain on Sept. 26, he said Obama lagged behind McCain because of a lack of knowledge about foreign affairs, but that McCain was also caught flip-flopping too many times.

Rodriguez said he is concerned about the economy and wants the war in Iraq to end, but urges the use of diplomacy –a skill he said is possessed by Obama’s vice-presidential choice, Sen. Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Biden was whatever Obama was missing on his resume,” said Rodriguez.

The Bronx resident, who originally supported Republican Ron Paul, said he isn’t a strong supporter of Obama, but admits that Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” blew him away. “Anyone that can say or do that gets my attention,” he said. - Sandra Pun

`How Much Is at Stake’

Jennifer Lynn Barrack and friends were pre-gaming in her Greenpoint apartment before going out to a local pub when she switched on the TV to the presidential debate. Much to her surprise, her friends tuned in as well.

Barrack, a 23-year-old first-time voter, hopes American youth can understand the election’s importance. “Every generation prior had a definition of something to fight for,” she says. “We’re just known as the ones who get handed everything. They don’t understand how much is at stake.”

She grew up without much political discussion. “We never talk about who we’re voting for,” Barrack says about her family back home in Falls Church, Va. Her mother, a Democrat, and her father, a Republican, have been married for 25 years.

Barrack developed her own views and chose to register as an Independent. “I don’t believe in being in a two-party system,” she says. “… It really depends on the candidate.” She says she plans on voting for the Obama-Biden ticket because of the candidates’ policies. - Naima Ramos-Chapman

No Go

While many college students are rushing to register to vote in the presidential election, Arthur Arutiunian will have none of it. The 20-year-old Brooklyn College student said that even if he had registered, he wouldn’t have wanted to vote for any of this year’s candidates.

“It doesn’t matter who is elected;the economy will still be bad for a few months until it starts to pick up again. The war in Iraq will still continue,” said Arutinian, a business and finance major. “My ideal candidate is someone who lives up to their word. Someone who doesn’t lie their way into office. Someone who actually knows what’s going on in the world, both domestically and foreign.” - Tiffany Charbonier