MECER ISLAND—While most of the people at the Mercer Island caucuses were middle aged to older, there were some younger voters as well.  Chris Fricke-Yang was one of those people.  Chris is 17 years old and was attending his first caucus at West Mercer Elementary School.

            “I saw Obama speak at a convention and was really moved,” says Fricke-Yang.  “I saw Hillary talk in Iowa and she didn’t have the same effect on me.”

            One look at Chris and it’s obvious that he is an Obama fan.  Chris came to the caucus decked out in an Obama t-shirt, Obama pins, and had an Obama poster.  This young voter attributes his interest in politics to his eighth grade government teacher who got him interested in our countries politics during the Bush and Kerry campaigns.

            Chris was the youngest person in his precinct by far, however he still wasn’t afraid to voice his opinion on Obama to try and sway the undecided.

            “I felt a little intimidated at first because I thought people wouldn’t take me seriously,” says Fricke-Yang.  “But I felt better as things went on.”

            What I really liked about the Mercer Island caucuses was the wide range of ages there.  Besides talking to a young voter like Chris, I also talked to Kenneth Edwards a 90 year-old man that has been attending caucuses since 1946.  To read more about him check out my post “90 Years Old and Still Going Strong”