Myles and Nina Bell
West Chester, Ohio
Miles: Barack Obama is a beast. I like what he stands for. He wants to help people. The gas prices are high; he's trying to lower them. He's going to make sure that more people get insurance and that everybody will be safe and healthy. He's somebody that cares. He's awesome. It feels good to have somebody that is the same race as you. It makes you happy because you think if he becomes president he'll be the first black man to ever do that. A lot of people are rooting for him. I think he's a nice person. He seems to care about people.
I went with my mom to vote. It was fun. She told me the answers and I hit the buttons. It was like I was voting. I voted for Obama, yes I did. If he wins, I'm going to be happy. And I'm going to scream.
Nina: I was crying watching his TV show. Because I was proud of him. Because he was helping the world. He's helping people that are losing their jobs and losing their family, their home. And he's helping the war be over. He's trying to end the war and bring the people home so they can see their family again. I don't like the war.
I went to see him speak, but I didn't really hear him speak. I was tired and we were waiting in line a long time. I fell asleep. I was disappointed. I saw him come out, but I didn't really get to see him, because they didn't put it on the big screen. And we were kind of far away; we were like at the top. But it was exciting.
We had an election at my school. I voted at my school. I voted for Barack Obama.
If he wins, I'm going to scream.
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Jessica Littles
Washington, D.C
I woke up this morning and thought I wish my grandparents were alive to see this day! I know people want to say this election is not about race, but for me it is partly and I think it's totally foolish to slight your history in an effort to be perceived as politically correct. This was my first time voting, and although I only got to vote absentee, I am so excited about what today represents.
It's humbling, exciting, and emotional to think that most of our great-grandmothers couldn't even vote and now we are going to have our first black president. I did not vote for Obama only because he is black, but I am proud of him and what he symbolizes. I think only a totally unconscious human being wouldn't recognize the phenomenon of this day.
So today is personal for me, and it is so because I am black.
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Jaewon Park
Richardson, TX
I'll admit it right now—I made an uneducated vote.
I consider my vote uneducated because I ignored our civic duty to live by CNN. I got my daily dose of the election from radio morning shows en route to work and chit-chat with more informed voters. Nevertheless, our country is founded on the uneducated with a voting system. What's it take for your vote to count as "qualified, educated?" It's a subjective standard that's not even worth debating. Fact is, you're not an economist. You're not on Wall Street. You're not a foreign policy expert. You're not Wall Street-rich, and you're not dirt poor. Yet amidst these inadequacies, your vote weighs the same in your state. So I took it easy on my ignorance and voted on how I felt.
My vote went to Obama. We're both socially liberal, young progressives, and black. Just kidding. I'm not black. But I can be dreamer too, right?
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Roberto Medrano
Silver Spring, MD
For the first time in my life I feel proud of being an American! I made sure to wake up early in the morning in order to take advantage of my right to vote. It was not too long ago people were disenfranchised; I thank civil rights leaders for allowing me the chance to vote. When casting my vote, I remembered that I was once told by my African-American counter part, "we'll probably have a Hispanic president before we ever have an AA president." To me i doesn't matter, I am just glad to see a person of color, one all people of color can relate to being close to becoming President. I felt a sense of achievement, when one of ours succeeds, we all do. I made sure to remind my family members to make their vote count. One of the best aspects of this election in particular is that the polls looked diverse; representative of the melting pot. I also joked at the fact that polls were placed at taco bars in Illinois, but hey whatever you have to do to get voters to the poll. I was definitely proud to be pat of history, it's almost like the dream has been realized. Let me end by saying, Latinos for Obama.