Brittany Hammarquist Shines on Election Day!

The following is a section of a column written by Steve Urbon of the Standard Times 

Young voters flock to polls, engaged and motivated
November 07, 2012 2:11 AM

After the campaign we just endured, it's a wonder voters didn't want to keep themselves planted on the couch Tuesday.

But in SouthCoast, at least, people poured into the polls, including, remarkably enough, a large number of young voters who many pundits dismissed as lazy, unengaged and unmotivated. But the ones I talked with were just as fed up with the campaign bombardment as their elders, and were glad to see it end — temporarily.

I stopped by six polling places in Mattapoisett, Fairhaven, Acushnet and New Bedford, and everywhere there was a cheery determination to cast that ballot because this was, at long, long last, the voters' turn and the end of the robocalls......

But the most remarkable political person I met on Election Day had to be 12-year-old Brittany Hammarquist, who was standing alone, campaigning at a corner in front of the Normandin Middle School where she is a seventh-grader.

In the deepening cold of late afternoon, she stood with her two signs opposing Question 2, the assisted suicide proposal. She told me that the topic had been discussed at school and her fellow students were frustrated with her stand on this, which she says comes from her Catholic background.

"The kids in the class were getting angry because of my views on things," she said.

Brittany is just the kind of young person who is going to keep this political system going. She's clearly engaged and very well spoken. Too bad it is six years before she can vote. She's obviously ready now.

Steve Urbon's column appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in The Standard-Times and at surbon@s-t.com He can be reached at 508-979-4448 or at surbon@s-t.com.