Young voters register for showdown

By Erin McGrath

Published: October 8, 2008

Five days before the last day to register to vote in Virginia, Nelson County Registrar Lisa Wooten was setting up camp in the Nelson County High School cafeteria.

She sat behind a red, blue and white gingham cloth at a table with voter registration and absentee ballot forms strewn before her.

In Virginia, the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 4 election was Oct. 6. Those who registered were 18 years or older, or will turn 18 before Nov. 4.

Wooten said she usually goes to the high school in the spring to provide high school seniors with the opportunity to register but she arrived last week because of interest in the upcoming election.

“The response in the spring is usually better than in the fall,” Wooten said. “This is the first time I’ve been here in the fall in a while.”

At 11:50 a.m. the first bell rang, signaling the beginning of the first of three lunch periods at the high school.

Patiently, Wooten waited while the two periods go by with no one coming to the table to register.

Students poured into the cafeteria, dropped their backpacks and gathered up the food. A few gave Wooten’s table a curious glance, but most simply ignored it.

The third lunch period began around 12:30 p.m. A few minutes before 1 p.m., with the noise level of hungry and chatty kids rising in the cafeteria, Brittney Mawyer, 17, of Nellysford, approached to register.

Her birthday is Nov. 3 and she didn’t know yet who she was going to vote for, she said. Others followed her.

Jaime Miller, 17, registered because she “knew she had to do it before the election.”

She said her vote will be going to McCain for president.

“I agree with most of his values,” Miller said.

Tabitha Brice, 17, also registered. She turns 18 on Oct. 11. She said she registered “because we need a change.”

“I’m voting for Obama,” Brice said. “I like the way he’s set up and how he’s willing to help us now the way we need to be helped.”

Seven students from the high school registered to vote on Oct. 1.

As of Oct. 7, Nelson County had 10,677 registered voters and counting. Wooten said she still had “quite a few” more registrations to add.

That is the highest number of registered voters Nelson County has ever had.