First-time voter: Deborah Cole, 19, Chesapeake

CHESAPEAKE

Although Deborah Cole could have voted in last year’s 2007 elections and the fall 2008 Chesapeake city elections, this nearly 20-year-old Greenbrier resident made sure she registered in June so she could vote in the 2008 presidential elections.

“I wanted to make sure my vote counted for this election,” Cole said. “When people complain about the president or those running, I always ask if they voted. When they tell me ‘no,’ that they feel their vote won’t make a difference, I ask them: ‘So if you didn’t vote, then why are you complaining?’ I don’t want to be one of those people. I want to do my best to be heard.”

A 2007 graduate of Oscar Smith High School, Cole works in the service department at Priority Toyota in Greenbrier. Her main concern in choosing a president is the economy.

“If people don’t have money to spend, then businesses don’t make money, either, and that affects jobs,” she said. “I know of people who are taking second jobs to take care of their mortgages and bills.”

Another top issue is how to deal with the war in Iraq.

“I have close friends and family who are in the military. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to see them come home, but if we pulled out of Iraq all together, I’m not sure we wouldn’t get attacked again. But I miss my friends and family and I worry about them.”

The commercials by either candidate have done nothing to help Cole make a decision about either man.

“Obama says McCain is doing this, while McCain says Obama is doing the same thing,” Cole said. “The vote gets down to simply who do you like more. People say Bush isn’t good at making speeches. I don’t care how good you are at making speeches. People shouldn’t be looking at that in making their decisions.”

She suggested doing research to find out what the candidates supported while in office.

“Base your vote off that information,” she said. “Not what they say in their commercials.”

Devon Hubbard Sorlie, 222-5202 or devon.sorlie@pilotonline.com