Voters turn out at polls

BY PETE DAVIS, JESSICA LYONS, NOAH ROSENBERG and YALDAZ SADAKOVA
Bayside resident Diana Citrola, 25, had never voted before, but she came to P.S. 41 in Bayside early on Election Day to cast her vote for Democratic Senator Barack Obama because of the importance and magnitude of this year’s election and its impact on the country’s future.
“Even though New York will go heavily towards the Democrats, I feel there is strength in numbers,” Citrola said. “We just need change, and he [Obama] is the person to do it.”
Supporters for both Obama and Republican Senator John McCain stood in lines - sometimes very long ones - at polling sites all across Queens on Election Day to cast their ballots in both the presidential election as well as the local Congressional, State Senate and Assembly races.
“Usually I wait about two minutes, maybe four,” said North Shore Towers resident Larry Smith, who said the voting process took him a half hour this time. “I know it’s probably the most important election in the last 50 or 60 years.”
“The lines weren’t too bad at all. I was pleasantly surprised,” said Denise Botz, who cast her ballot in support of McCain at P.S. 41.
Although Botz said she was not too optimistic about her candidate’s chances of winning, she said she could live with an Obama presidency.
“I’m certainly not going to move out of the country like some Democrats were saying,” she said.
Laverne White, 74, has lived in Jamaica, where she worked as a nurse eductor, since 1943, but now she has been volunteering to work on Obama’s grassroots campaign in Queens. She has made voter education materials herself and paid for them out of her own pocket.
“I feel there are many President Obamas in the making, and we have to, as a country, understand that we have to encourage all young people to love and respect each other and elevate each other,” White said early Tuesday morning. “And, that’s what I want to do for this young man, for Barack Obama.”
In southwest Queens, 44-year-old Nafeeza Khan was a first-time voter at P.S. 64 in Ozone Park. A Guyanese immigrant, Khan just recently became a U.S. citizen and believes by voting in the election she will support her city and country.
“I think I’ll vote for Obama because he would do a better job - like with health care and lower taxes,” Khan explained.
Other first time voters at P.S. 64 were younger.
“I feel cool,” said Leonela Morales, 19, after casting a ballot for the first time. “I did something for my country. I’ll finally be part of my country, not just another member.”
Morales said she voted for Obama, but was undecided until the last minute. “There’s really no difference between Democrats and Republicans - they both say exactly the same thing. It was mostly bickering. That’s what was confusing,” Morales explained.
Even some young children, who could not vote in the election, seemed to understand the importance of this year’s election and got caught up in the hype leading up to Election Day.
“It’s really cool because it elects the president and it’s a big job,” said 9-year-old Claudia Hanover, who watched her grandmother, Ellen Schreiber, vote at North Shore Towers.
“Every person has the right to decide who they think should be president,” her 11-year old brother, Austin Hanover, said.