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Transcript: My name is Joshua Ellis, I'm 18
years old and I'm a senior at St. John's Jesuit High
School.
I have been volunteering with the Obama campaign since
around mid-May of last year. I wanted to volunteer because
I was always interested and fascinated with his charisma
and with his policy.
I really enjoyed his enthusiasm and I wanted to do
everything I could to help him. I immediately found
out about the organization Students for Barack Obama
and I became the St. John's Jesuit chapter of Students
for Barack Obama
I also became the Toledo, Ohio, coordinator of High
School Students for Barack Obama.
From that point forward I've just been volunteering
in the community and giving out information and recently
canvassing for votes for the upcoming election on [March]
4.
Youth involvement
I have found it is easier to get the high school students
motivated than the adults I've worked with. A lot of high
school students are excited about our country's election
process, they are taking government classes and different
civics classes that are explaining the process to them.
Even the ones that can't vote are gung-ho about the
election.
They want to do everything they can to help those that
can vote make a change and take advantage of the opportunity
they are given. They're really excited themselves for
the day when they will be able to vote. This is also
my first election.
The run up to the election
This last week has been hectic, I must admit. Right now
I've just been coordinating a lot of volunteer hours and
volunteering at the headquarters as much as possible.
They have a lot of information and data to process as
far as the support goes.
We've been going door to door mostly. Right now he
has a campaign, he wants to knock on a million doors
in Ohio, that's what the strategy is right now.
So there are tons of volunteers needed, so we've been
going out almost every night, going door to door. Knocking
on about 20 doors or 50 doors.
Voting for the first time
I just completely my vote on Monday because in Ohio we
can vote early and the feeling was unexplainable. All
my life I've been interested in politics and I've watched
my parents vote and seen the process on TV.
My parents always instilled in me that it's a privilege
and a right that every human should have to be able
to choose their government.
It is something I take pride in to be an educated voter.
Also as an African American, someone who would have
been disenfranchised and not able to vote in the past,
it's very passionate for me to vote because my forefathers
were unable to. So I feel that by voting today I am
reconciling a wrong that was done to them in the past.
I feel that every voter should be an educated voter.
They should be educated on the policies and the moral
fiber of what the person they are voting for stands
for, that is what the prime factor is.
Race gender, sexual orientation, creed-- all of that
is secondary, in my opinion. Barack Obama being an African
American, or Hillary Clinton being a woman for that
matter, should not weigh into the decision making at
all. The person behind the skin is what is going to
matter the most.
I think that Obama is the best candidate regardless
of all of that.
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This [teen] is an immigrant from Mexico, and he works long hours at a local farm milking dairy cows, five hours per milking, twice a day.
