Valley voters never forget their first time

WASILLA — With Tuesday’s General Election on the horizon, discussion about state and national candidates and issues is reaching a crescendo.

As attention is focused on choosing the President of the United States for the next four years, along with a laundry list of state and national offices and proposals, there’s a lot to keep voters engaged. While it may seem a chore to some, the privilege of filling out a ballot with a presidential choice on it is memorable.

For Valley resident Patty McKinley, she was voting for the first time when Richard M. Nixon was on the ballot. She was living outside Anchorage and recalls having to take a fairly long car ride to get to a polling place.

Cheryl Page is the registrar at Mat-Su College and helps students who ask for assistance with voting. It’s something she’s done “for about eight or nine years. We encourage that participation and have it in our printed schedule to become a voter.”

Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright is no stranger to elections, but said he still remembers the first time he was able to vote for a presidential candidate. It was 1972, Rupright was in the military serving in Vietnam and the voting age was 21.

“You had to be 21 to drink, 21 to vote, 21 to buy and sell property,” he said. “I thought it was pretty cool. I was in the service and I was in Vietnam.”

He recalls Nixon during his campaigns making promises to those serving in the war.

“Dick Nixon promised us in 1968 he would do something about the Vietnam War,” he said. “By the time I graduated high school and enlist and everything, I was over there. By 1972, he was promising he would get us home and give us a pay raise, so I was all about, ‘hey, that’s my guy.’”

With thoughts also turning toward the holidays, the Frontiersman caught up with some Valley voters Saturday at a holiday gift fair at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla.

Patty McKinley

A Valley resident, McKinley remembers her first presidential election when Nixon was on the ballot.

“My mother was always very knowledgeable and was up on whatever was going on in the world and a very intelligent woman. We always talked politics in our house, so I couldn’t wait until I was 18 and could vote. That was a privilege and an honor and a duty.”

Brantly Combs

Originally from Anchorage a now a Valley resident, Combs is 20 years old and will cast his first ballot on Tuesday.

“I think it’s good to vote and more people should vote. A lot of people don’t know how to vote, either. They want to do it the easy way; they don’t want to look more into it. They think it’s hard to keep up with (the issues).”

Amy Riddle

Riddle lives in Wasilla and can’t remember who was on the ballot for her first presidential election, but she’s proud of her voting record.

“Holy cow. I’m really old, so I don’t know the first president I voted for. But ask me if I’ve voted in every presidential election since I’ve been able to vote.”

Have you?

“Yes I have, because I believe it’s a Constitutional right to do it and I think my vote makes a difference. If I don’t vote, I don’t have a right to complain.”

George Riddle

Married to Amy Riddle for 30 years, George Riddle said he benefits from his wife’s commitment to voting.

“I do not remember the first one, and I can’t answer truthfully that I’ve voted in every one of them. But absolutely now I do, because she wouldn’t let me not vote. We’ve been married 30 years. I got that right, didn’t I?”

Adriane Bailey

Bailey is 27 and newly married. This election season marks the third time she’s been able to vote for a president. She remembers her first — 2004 when George W. Bush defeated Al Gore for his second term.

“It was interesting, because I voted at college even though I was still registered at home. I was very, like, I was finally an adult.”

Katny Miller

This Wasilla resident also thinks Nixon was the first president elected in a year she could vote.

“I thought it was great to finally have a voice. I think it was my husband’s and mine’s first time to vote for both of us. I vote every time. I can’t complain if I don’t vote. We get the (voter information) book out, we study the book and make our decisions based on the information we see there, and we’ll be there Tuesday to vote.”

Lauren Kane

Kane lives in Talkeetna and spent time urging her friends and neighbors at the sports center to “vote Republican” come Tuesday.

“It was probably Kennedy. Wait, I probably didn’t vote in that one because I was still in high school. That’s the first one I really remember. It was probably the one after that (Nixon). I didn’t vote for him, he was a liar. … Right now, everybody’s wanting a change.”

Debbie Bales

Bales, of Wasilla, said she recalls paying more attention to the ballot issues because she would be able to vote.

Her first presidential election “was a long time ago. I was 18, but I don’t remember who it was at this point. I remember it was fun and exciting, though.”