As the election season is rushing towards an end, first-time voters express their thoughts on the race to presidency.

Ben Hahn, a freshman undeclared major, said he feels that none of the candidates appropriately represent his community or anything he supports.

“It seems like most of America doesn’t like who they have to vote for to lead them. When you’re choosing someone who’s going to lead you as the lesser of two evils, but you know they’re going to be bad for you it’s just, I don’t know,” Hahn said. “Their policies are dangerous. You can’t imagine Trump dealing with foreign policy, like sitting at a table with North Korea and China trying to decide a nuclear deal. Hillary Clinton’s policies aren’t any better and Gary Johnson, well nobody cares about Gary Johnson, he’s third party and he doesn’t really seem to know what’s going on.”

Hahn said the biggest problem with Hillary is that she manipulates people for her own gain. Hahn said he doesn’t know what to believe about what another Clinton presidency would look like because of her constantly shifting positions on key topics.

“I don’t even feel like we’re communicating any issues, honestly,” Hahn said. “The only thing I can see really coming out of it is people giving up voting. A lot of people are giving up voting for this election because they figure no good is going to come out of it anyway.”

Hahn said there are two ways that America might have gotten to where it is at right now with two major party candidates that people do not trust.

“Either they are completely not caring and living their own lives or it might be that we’re all just flaming idiots because that happens too,” Hahn said.

Instead of casting a vote for someone who held similar polotical beliefs to his, Hahn said he cast his vote against who he did not want to win.

“I think Clinton is going to win and I think she is going to screw over America,” Hahn said.

Joseph Melberg, a sophomore math major with teacher certification, said he believes differently. While he does agree it is likely that Clinton will be president, he said he does not think that this is a negative thing.

“A lot of people don’t like Hillary because they think she’s corrupt and they don’t like Trump because they think he doesn’t think,” Melberg said. “I don’t think I’m voting for the lesser of two evils. I like Hillary’s ideas. I think she’s done pretty bad things in the past, but I really don’t like the fact that anyone thinks that Trump could run the country.”

Melberg said if Trump wins he will start a lot of fights with other countries if he even suspects that they are disrespecting America. Melberg said he thinks there will be a lot less violence amongst the general public if Clinton wins.

“I’m not confident in my generation’s will to vote, but I’m very confident in their will to riot if either of them win,” Melberg said.

Melberg said that if Trump has trouble controlling himself on Twitter, it is hard to imagine how he would handle nuclear launch codes. As for Clinton, Melberg said he supports her because her policies are focused on the rights of the people. When it comes down to it, actions matter most, Melberg said.

“I don’t think what a politician says much matters. It only matters what they do,” Melberg said. “Politicians are doing what they’re doing to have power and so they’re going to try to align themselves with what they think will win.”

Amanda Kiessling, a freshman Spanish major, said this election has had a rocky start and has continued on that path.

“It seems like we’re focusing less on the actual stances of the presidential candidates, than on their personal characteristics,” Kiessling said. “We need to start focusing on where we want our nation to go instead of who is more of a liar or who is less presentable than the other candidate.”

Kiessling said people may view the election process as less democratic and less trustworthy in the future because of this election.

“No matter who wins there’s going to be a lot of outcry,” Kiessling said. “I’m slightly worried that will mean violence.”

With her experience and her willingness to admit her mistakes and try to make up for them, Kiessling said she believes Hillary is the best option. Even with all the drama in the presidential election, Kiessling said she believes that if an issue is important enough to a person, they would still focus on it in spite of all the distractions. Voting gives people a voice, Kiessling said.

“It would be so much better if everyone voted,” Melberg said. “People like to say they didn’t vote so they’re not the cause of the problem, but if everyone votes then what people really want is shown. Even if it’s not what I like, the reason that we have a democracy is so that the majority of people decide.”

Chrissy Miller can be reached at clmiller9@eiu.edu or 518-2812.