30 November 2012
VOTING: Poly student Ricardo Inunza worked at a precinct on November 6, Election Day.
By Kira Roybal, Staff writer
Election time may be over, but the fervor surrounding the results adamantly pushes itself into present agendas. Some people brood and protest against the new presidency, while others celebrate the reelection. As you can see, chauvinism tends to rear its ugly head during these us-versus-them situations. How can anyone find a rational answer when these opposing views are flying around?
“Not much is gonna change anyway. Just because there’s a new president, it doesn’t mean he’s gonna run the country,” Ricardo Inunza (11) said. Inunza had volunteered to work at the voting polls this past Election Day.
He had received information regarding this opportunity a few weeks prior to the election during his Spanish class. Why during Spanish class? Because bilingual volunteers were needed, though Inunza said he only had to speak Spanish once while working at the polls.
Inunza’s precinct was stationed at a residence in the Canyon Crest area. Confusion first ensued when people were unaware that the location of the precinct had changed; perplexed people were going to different houses until the volunteers finally put up a sign leading voters to the correct location.
Working at a precinct is much harder than one might think. Lines of voters crowd around the volunteers waiting for “I Voted” stickers, asking for help to cast their ballots, and demanding new ballots if they incorrectly marked their first ones. As Inunza assisted these voters and took role of who came and who did not, he found himself mixing up commands a few times. He and the other two volunteers had even more work to do than originally planned because the fourth volunteer never arrived.
Before Election Day came around, Inunza said that he had to take the course on how to work at the precinct. This program included a three-hour class taken a month before the election and a handbook and DVD set for review; Inunza skipped right to the DVD.
Working at the voting polls was like working at a full-time job; Inunza spent 15 hours at the precinct and was paid $110. “It [gave] me a view of what the real world is gonna be like,” he said.
Inunza believes that politics is an intriguing subject. He enjoys discussing political issues and even debating with his family about them.
He does not regret any of the outcomes of this year’s election. As stated earlier, his clear and rational thinking assures him that a president is not the end-all, be-all figure in American politics. What is his one wish? “I wish I could learn more [about politics]. I wish I could understand it really well.”
As many people may be aware, the United States is not known for its high voter turnout during election season. Inunza stated that out of the 1,600 registered voters assigned to his precinct, 500 of them showed up to cast their votes. This does not include the people who voted by mail, however.
Inunza postulated that the low voter turnout for this year’s election could be a result of the voting system itself. He presumed that because the electoral vote is also a key factor in the presidential elections, many people feel discouraged from voting because the popular vote is not the only one that counts.
Another problem that Inunza believes decreases voter turnout is the general lack of interest in politics. “You ask your classmates [and] they say ‘I don’t care about politics.’ Those people are gonna be the ones that are voting next election.”