A peel of nervous laughter escaped from a pair of friends standing in the otherwise hushed atmosphere of their high school’s choir room. The two were normally familiar with the space, usually dotted with folding chairs, music stands and sheet music, but today the room had been transformed for election day. Four curtained voting machines and a registration table had replaced the chairs and music stands that had been packed away for the day.  The two young women Olivia Juliana and Amy Krigsman were high school seniors in 2012 and for the first time were eligible to vote for the presidential election.

“I’m pretty sure that was the only time I showed up to school an hour early,” reminisced Juliana, “I remember thinking it was so strange that room was so quiet and serious because it was normally a place where my friends would hang out before school and during lunch.”

Many young Americans look forward to the day they are eligible to vote for the first time, as it is often seen as a rite of passage. For Julinana and Krigsman their first time voting experience also carried the weight of having a say in who the next leader of country would be. A closer look at those eligible to vote first time in the 2012 presidential elections, reveals that not all young potential voters share the  equal enthusiasm for this particular  aspect of their civic responsibility.

Daniel Chase was a 22 year old, recent college graduate in 2012, who missed being eligible to vote in the 2008 presidential election by just a few months. Although, just because he was eligible to vote did not necessarily mean he was ready to participate in the political process.

“I was taught about how the Electoral College process works is eighth grade by a very grumpy social studies teacher. He pretty much taught us that our votes don’t matter…that stuck with me for a long time,” said Chase. Although he has not decided if he will step into a voting booth this November, Chase has been following the election casually in order to stay informed about current events.

Feeling unprepared and unknowledgeable of the candidates platforms got in the way of several would be first time voters in 2012. Four friends who had met only a few months before when they moved in together on their freshman floor at The College of New Jersey had all abstained from voting back in 2012. Two from the group Jamie Dipasquale and Victoria Cruz, male and female respectively felt that they had gotten too wrapped up in the college bubble and were not prepared enough to cast an informed vote. The other two members of the group Rebecca Suarez and Megan Finch cited that they wanted to participate but were registered to vote in their home towns and hadn’t been able to figure out how to submit and absentee ballot on time.

“I admit I didn’t pay all that much attention to what was going on with the election, but I remember it was a re-election year so I justified my lack of interest in assuming Obama was just going to win again,” said Sabrina Hughes, who was a high school senior in 2012. “I think I was for of maybe four or five people who were able to vote in my class, and a major reason I did was because my mom made me go to the polling place with her.” Following politics has never been a top priority for Hughes but looking back on the experience she said she’s glad her mother has tried to encourage her to be more aware of how the United States political system operates.

Brothers Johnathan and Edward Barbari recall having many heated discussions over the dinner table on the importance of voting. “I’m older by three years and I had just graduated and moved back home from school, I spent hours trying to convince him to vote in November,” said Johnathan Barbari. His younger brother felt that voting during a re-election year wasn’t important enough.

“I wanted my first time voting for the president to really mean something,” said Edward Barbarri, “I know it means something every time you vote, but this was just something personal, I wanted it to feel important to me and in 2008 I didn’t feel that way.”

Of the potential first time voters surveyed, seven made the decision to step into a voting booth in 2012, while four did not vote that year. All of those that voted in 2012 plan to vote again this November. Dipasquale and Cruz said they definitely plan to vote in this next election, and they have made preparations so that they are registered at a more convenient polling location. The younger Barbari brother feel’s that this year’s election has more at stake and so he too has decide to vote in this year’s election.

Chase is still undecided as to whether or not he will be voting in the fall, but he has kept up with what is happening with each candidates in case decides to step into a polling center.