New Hampshire high school student Allison Perkins and a friend pose with Republican candidate John Kasich. By Allison Perkins Here in New Hampshire, you know it's election time from all the ads that start appearing on TV and the survey calls that start coming every night. The TV ads aren’t too bad — you really only see them when you watch the news. The phone calls are what’s really annoying, but because of caller ID we know when not to answer. During election time, things can get a little crazy. It’s not an uncommon thing to hear a presidential candidate is in town or even watch them ride by in the Fourth of July parade. New Hampshire has held the first state primary of each election cycle for the last 100 years, so this is nothing new to anyone who lives here. Since I grew up used to seeing this cycle repeat itself every four years, I didn't take a particular interest in what was going on until recently. One day in class, my social studies teacher encouraged us to go out and see a candidate. My first reaction was "You’re kidding, right?", only because I didn’t know how easy it was to go see candidates speak. I didn't really want to go, but in a couple of days my friends and I made plans to go see Donald Trump in Rochester. That turned into attending a few more town halls around the state, including Hillary Clinton, John Kasich and Chris Christie. We ended up getting to meet John Kasich and Chris Christie. At the town hall meetings, my friends and I were the youngest ones there, leading people to ask us why teenagers would take up part of their weekend at a political rally.

 

Kingswood Regional High School senior Allison Perkins and a friend pose with Republican candidate Chris Christie. I also had the opportunity with another classmate to attend the New Hampshire Primary Mock Election with students from Franklin Pierce University. We snagged press credentials for the democratic debate at Saint Anselm's College on Dec. 19 in Manchester. There we got to interview and meet supporters, take pictures, watch the debate from the press area and go to the spin room afterward to try to get interviews with candidates. I used to pay no attention to politics, like any other teenager. But from my first town hall meeting I was fascinated about everything from analyzing the supporters there to actually listening to the way candidates address their audience. Now that I’m almost able to vote, I’ve been paying more attention to candidates and the ways they campaign. Part of my social studies class focuses on propaganda. I learned how political campaigns employ their own versions and how their success or failure is reflected in the polls. We even used our own propaganda techniques to run for president in our mock class election. This week's election will mark the 100th first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire and I encourage everyone eligible to go out and vote. For those maybe not old enough, nag your parents to go vote for who they see would make the best future president. Voting is so incredibly important — especially in New Hampshire, because history has shown us how much impact our small state can have on the rest of the primaries around the country. Not only should people of legal voting age be up to date on politics, but even teenagers not yet able to vote, because eventually today’s teenagers are going to be the ones making important decisions on how our country is run. Voting is a freedom and a right and I believe everyone should take advantage of this privilege because not everyone around the world can vote for who runs their country. Allison Perkins is a senior at Kingswood Regional High School in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.