Each Tuesday in July, The Dispatch will feature stories from young voters who will cast their first ballots for president this November, as well as those from veteran voters remembering their first time voting for president. The general election is set for Nov. 8.
Katherine Kerby, 18
Katherine Maer Kerby of Columbus will vote in her first presidential election on Nov. 8. Kerby registered to vote in fall 2015, shortly after her 18th birthday and considers herself to be politically active.
Before forming her own opinions, Kerby prefers to take a back seat, listening to others’ thoughts and observing the political landscape. She suggests being informed about political issues drives voting, and in today’s society, with so many available news sources, differentiating fact from opinion remains crucial.
“It’s interesting to see just how informed or not informed a lot of people are on the actual topics that [they] are voting for,” Kerby said. “People can be voting for something they don’t actually believe in because they don’t know the facts behind it or the causation.”
Kerby receives majority of her information from news apps and social media. She likes the balance of the two sources because she says the news outlets she follows provide unbiased facts and “good, clean information,” while social media adds a variety of personal experiences.
“I think the inclusion of social media as a source for these sorts of things is important because you’re not only getting information from large companies, such as Fox and CBS, you’re getting it from personal accounts and seeing how it affects other people directly,” Kerby said.
Kerby said her friends influence her political ideology the most.
“I feel like I’m a little bit different for my family not to have influenced me all that much,” she said.
Kerby graduated from Heritage Academy and is a sophomore mechanical engineering major and honors college student at the University of Alabama.
While Kerby said her school settings have not greatly influenced her ideology, she thinks they offer platforms for discussion. She does not see college as politically isolating.
“It depends on the people you surround yourself with,” Kerby said. “Going to college is the same thing as participating in any other community.”
Social issues resonate with Kerby more than economic issues, she said. She finds issues of gun control, minimum wage and income tax, immigration, excess prescription of pharmaceutical drugs, gay marriage, abortion, LGBT rights and gender inequality most resounding.
“I think it goes back to the whole Animal Farm thing where people are saying ‘everybody’s equal but some people are more equal than others,’ and that’s just not true,” Kerby said, referencing the 1945 political novel by George Orwell.
While Kerby said many of the social issues she feels most passionate about are emotionally based, she said they are more likely to get people involved in politics.
“I feel like a lot of the bias against [minorities] are found in a fear of being different,” Kerby said. “That’s something that’s completely immature in my opinion.”
Kerby considers herself an independent but said she leans more liberal.
Although originally a Bernie Sanders supporter, Kerby said if the presidential standoff boils down to Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump, she will definitely vote for Clinton.
She wants to encourage people not to follow a political figure without educating themselves.
“The way you vote is not a single time thing. It’s also the trend on how we’re trying to progress as a nation for the future.”
Even as a child, Kerby had a hard time understanding why people, young voters in particular, decided not to vote. But she does suggest mainstream issues do not always inspire young voters.
What would it take to get more first-time voters to the polls?
“I feel like it starts with being informed,” Kerby said. ‘These issues may not seem like they matter now, but down the road they will.”
Like her ‘First Vote’ counterpart, George Swales, Kerby strongly believes education sits at the heart of The United States’ political progress.
George Swales, 78
George Swales was serving in the United States Navy in Guantanamo, Cuba when his first opportunity to vote in a presidential election rolled around in November 1960.
“There was no question that I was going to vote. Period,” he said.
Despite Swales’ certainty he would cast a ballot, the military veteran and Columbus resident of 15 years said lack of media coverage about the candidates during his first presidential race as a voter made it difficult to decide who he wanted as the country’s next commander-in-chief.
“I was 23, and I was fully involved in keeping my head above water as a young sailor in the Navy,” Swales said. “I didn’t have access to, nor was there a heck of a lot of, TV. There wasn’t the kind of coverage that there is today.”
Even in Guantanamo, the sailor sensed national change in the air during the 1960 election between Democrat John F. Kennedy, a senator from Massachusetts, and Republican Richard Nixon of California. Swales attributed that change, that energy, to “Kennedy’s youth.”
1960 would mark the year of the first televised presidential debate, and candidates’ ages, appearances and religious views influenced public opinion.
“People said things like ‘Is his loyalty more to the Pope than to us?'” Swales said of Kennedy, the first Catholic president and youngest president ever elected.
Swales said he cast his 1960 ballot for Nixon because he was a Republican. He said his parents and the black community had historically voted majority Republican because it was “the party of Lincoln,” the 16th president famous for signing the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War.
“Nobody could tell me the difference between the Democratic and Republican parties,” Swales said. “I was frustrated with that, but I was left with not really any choice but to vote Republican.”
He said the Republican party then was not what it is today.
Born in 1937 in Maryland, Swales grew up seeing voting as an obligation and a means of giving citizens a voice in the political process.
Swales said he did not come from an “educated” family, but more from a “common sense” one. Swales, who earned a bachelor’s diploma from George Washington University and a master’s degree from Central Michigan University, said his father completed school through second grade and his mom reached sixth grade.
He suggested his parents worked hard to instill in him and his eight siblings values of accountability, rationality and perseverance. These spilled over into his views on voting.
“One of the things I fought against growing up is the notion that my one vote doesn’t make any difference,” Swales said. “It’s hard to grasp the weight of the collective.”
This sentiment often resonates with young adult voters today.
Swales considers it a necessity for older community members to bring younger people to greater clarity on adulthood and voting, and he finds critical thinking essential to understanding.
With so many more avenues today than in 1960 to keep up with what’s going on in the world, Swales said there’s little excuse for voters not to educate themselves on the issues.
“In the end [technology’s] wonderfulness will only benefit us if we make it benefit us,” Swales said. “If we make it do what we need it to do.”
It is the notion of contributing toward a better day that keeps Swales voting.
“Sometimes you don’t know what to do,” Swales said. “But you have to do all you can with what’s presented as an opportunity right now. Maybe it has nothing to do with anything, but it’s better than standing around sticking your finger in your ear.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.