Voter Registration Drive Provides Opportunities For Young People To Take Part

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Planning to start a military career soon, Nicholas Wingrove wants a voice in determining who the next commander in chief will be.

That’s why he and a dozen other Jacobs Creek Job Corps participants registered to vote during a special event on Friday at the Bristol YWCA.

It was the first time Wingrove, 19, had registered to vote. He said he plans to cast his ballot for Barack Obama in November.

“[Obama will] try to bring the troops back home in the next four years,” Wingrove said, explaining his support for the Democratic candidate.

YWCA Director of Operations Tammy Henkel said Friday’s event was designed to give people like Wingrove a chance to become involved in the electoral system.

“We want anybody who can vote to start being more serious about it,” she said, adding the YWCA’s efforts were focused on young and low-income voters.

The event featured groups like the League of Women Voters and election officials from both sides of State Street.

Henkel said the voter registration drive grew slowly from an idea a group of YWCA members and staff brought from a national seminar on the election. The group hopes to expand the efforts in the future to show people the importance of voting in a local election, as well as voting for a president, she said.

Interest in the presidential election has kept Bristol Virginia Voter Registrar Penny Limburg quite busy lately.

She said her office has registered more than 400 new voters since January. She’s also helped a number of people who haven’t voted in a while make sure their information is up to date.

“It’s better to take care of that now rather than when you vote,” Limburg said, adding Oct. 6 is the last day to register in both Virginia and Tennessee.

Jason Jones, another Job Corps participant, had previously heard advice similar to Limburg’s. He took the opportunity Friday to switch his registration from Memphis to Bristol so he could vote in the November election.

“It hit me like last week that I had to get this done,” said the 22-year-old Jones, who’s voted in every election since he’s turned 18.

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