On final day, hundreds in Valley register to vote

By David Skolnick

One teen forgot about registering until her mother reminded her.

YOUNGSTOWN — There was a lot of hesitation on the part of Gerald Baker to register to vote.

The 49-year-old worker at General Motors Lords- town complex has never voted.

“I didn’t think it would count,” said Baker, of Youngstown. “Let’s see if it will now. Things have got to change.”

Baker was among those who waited to register to vote Monday, the last day to do so for this election.

“It takes a lot for me to be here,” he said. “This here is history for me.”

Baker, who’s worked at the GM plant for the past 32 years, said he’s voting for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee from Illinois.

County boards of elections in Ohio stayed opened Monday until 9 p.m. registering voters for the election.

Though final numbers weren’t available Monday, election officials in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana estimated about 250 to 400 people combined waited until the last day to register.

“Apathy,” said Jason Miller of Struthers, 24, about why he waited till Monday to register to vote for the first time.

Miller also isn’t a big fan of U.S. Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee from Arizona.

“I don’t like McCain,” Miller said about one of main reasons he registered to vote. I disagree with “some of his policies on health care and the middle class.”

Bethany Lettau of Youngstown, who turned 18 in July, went to the Mahoning County Board of Elections at 2801 Market St. to register Monday.

Lettau said she waited until the last day to register because she’s been busy attending college in Cleveland.

She didn’t mind the wait, which was only a minute or two, to register.

“I’m excited to be voting,” Lettau said. “I want to vote for Barack Obama. He has a lot of good moral issues.”

As for McCain, she said, “He doesn’t seem too stable.”

It’s also the first time Alexis Terhanko of Boardman, also 18, is eligible to vote in a general election.

Why did she wait until the last day?

“I forgot about it until my mom told me,” she said.

Terhanko said there isn’t a particular race that compelled her to register.

Matt Achladis of Austintown moved from Trumbull County since the last time he voted a few years ago.

He stood in line Monday registering on the last day saying he’s been too busy to do so earlier.

Waiting until the last day wasn’t a big issue, he said.

Achladis said he’s an independent and hasn’t decided who he’s supporting.

But he stressed the importance of registering to vote in this election.

Local election board officials say it could take them until next week to determine the validity of those who’ve registered to vote in the past week or so.

skolnick@vindy.com