TRAVERSE CITY -- Eric Brefka pays attention to politics.
He found out from a survey in government class that he tends to take a moderate stance on issues.
Brefka anticipates the day he can vote for a leader who will tackle what he believes will be key this November -- the war in Iraq and the cost of a college education.
"There's definitely been a lot of discussion around this election," said Brefka, 18, of Traverse City, who registered to vote Thursday during a lunchtime drive at West Senior High. "College is coming up. Money issues are going to be a lot tougher for us."
Like Brefka, many of his peers are excited about the Nov. 4 presidential election. Not only will it be the first time they cast a ballot, but it will be the first time either a black man or a woman is on the winning ticket.
That idea isn't lost on young voters, several of whom said this election is likely to prove more important than any in recent history.
And as the deadline approaches to register to vote -- in Michigan, it's Oct. 6 -- those who have yet to sign up plan to be ready.
Sophie Frank registered Thursday at West. She has not determined which candidate she'll support, but said she is fairly sure she will cast a vote.
"I just want to have a choice," said Frank, 18, a senior. "If I don't vote, it's like I'm giving up my choice."
New voices
Young people aren't the only ones focused on the election.
Two votes that will be cast in November are an important first for Jose and Hermelinda Ramirez, newly naturalized citizens of the United States.
"We really want to vote. It's our first time," Hermelinda said through the help of an interpreter.
The Traverse City couple are native Mexicans and became U.S. citizens last year. Now they are registered to vote in Grand Traverse County.
"There's a lot of Mexican people who were born here, but they don't vote," Jose said. "We are very excited to be able to vote."
Hermelinda, 60, hasn't voted in her 50 years in the United States, while Jose, 46, voted in Mexico before he immigrated here in 1980. The couple said they believe their two votes can make a difference and intend to cast them early on Election Day.
"We've been thinking for a long time about becoming citizens but worried because we didn't have much school and don't speak much English. But one day we decided to do it and went and did it," Hermelinda said.
They were sworn in as naturalized citizens in October last year in Grand Rapids.
"It's very important to be a citizen because we have more rights and more access to help," Jose said, specifically with employment, health care and education.
The Ramirez couple read a lot in recent months about the Democratic and Republican candidates for president and both already know who they will vote for -- U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, of Illinois.
"We want to see a change for the whole nation. We feel everything is going up, gas prices, food prices, but not our wages. That's very important," Hermelinda said.
Jose and Hermelinda are local farm workers and said they hope this election brings a turn-around for the country, here and elsewhere.
Getting involved
At Northwestern Michigan College, Joseph Coppedge, of Traverse City, sits at a table in the campus' welcome center, a stack of voter registration and absentee ballot forms in front of him.
Many students approach and simply ask how to register. Coppedge tells them to fill out the form -- that easy.
"I think it's important they register and vote," he said.
Coppedge said he's learned in government classes that the trend in the United States is for young people to not vote, but perhaps that will change this election.
Coppedge and other volunteers with the NMC student group Feminists United will register new voters on campus each day through the deadline.
"With democracy, you have to participate, not just sit around and watch," said Chantel Smith of Traverse City, student co-founder of the group.
If young people register to vote early they will be more likely to vote for the rest of their lives, Smith said.
That's why she and the other student co-founder of the group, Sara Chauvette, of Hemlock, took voter registration forms to the students, rather than the other way around.
"We knocked on all the doors in the dorms and we got 20 that way," Chauvette said. "I think this is an election ... in which young people will have more of an effect than past elections."
A Secretary of State spokesman said the department has not tracked the number of new voters. But some local governments have.
As of Tuesday, 1,979 people between the ages of 18 and 21 registered to vote in all of Grand Traverse County since the same date a year ago, Clerk Linda Coburn said.
In Acme Township, for instance, 93 new voters between 18 and 21 registered since November 2007, Clerk Dorothy Dunville said, adding that numbers are higher than both an average year and a normal presidential year.
As many as 87 percent of voters 18 to 29 intend to vote Nov. 4, according to a recent poll from youth vote advocacy group Rock the Vote. Half of the 500 respondents are left-leaning, with 29 percent identifying Republican.
As such, Obama leads among them with 56 percent support, as opposed to Republican nominee Sen. John McCain's 29 percent.
Brefka said Obama seems to appeal to younger people.
And Hannah Rodriguez, a student at Benzie Central High School, said in order to win votes from her age group, candidates need to make an effort to be visible.
The high school hosted a Voting Rocks event last spring, during which candidates in several local races spoke to students and township clerks registered voters.
"It's a really good campaign strategy to be pulling for the young people, because we are a large part of the population," said Rodriguez, 18, of Beulah. "We'll have to start paying our own taxes and our own bills. It'll directly affect us."
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