New America Media, News Report, Anna Challet, Posted: Nov 07, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO — As election results rolled in Tuesday night, young and first-time voters from schools throughout the Bay Area tuned in to see if their activism had made a difference.
Melanie Kristensen, a 21-year-old student at Santa Rosa Junior College, was relieved to hear the results of the presidential election. “Because we’re young, we’re going to be the ones most influencing a new generation of voters in the next few years,” she says. “We’ll be the ones most influencing whatever happens next.”
Kristensen is registered as a Democrat and donated money to the Obama campaign. When major networks began announcing that Obama had won the presidency, she was at her waitressing job in Marin County.
“For someone to have such a huge impact on our vote and get so many of our votes is huge,” she says. “The Republican Party is in trouble, especially because of the growing Latino community within the United States. If they keep alienating young Latino voters, there’s never going to be another Republican in the Oval Office.”
Read more HERE
