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| West Forsyth High senior Ivory Paysour, 17, got to meet Barak Obama after helping 120 classmates register to vote in next week’s primary elections. |
The Clemmons Courier
- West Forsyth High senior Ivory Paysour is so excited about voting in the Democratic presidential primary that she has registered more than 120 of her classmates to join her.
She wants a big group to go together this week to vote early at the Lewisville Library — their first time participating in the American election process.
Her personal campaign has won the attention of her favorite candidate, Barak Obama. His campaign sponsored a registration effort, rewarding the winners with a personal audience with the Illinois senator.
Paysour finished in the top five in North Carolina and met Obama at East Carolina University.
“He’s a pretty impressive guy, I must say. My knees started shaking before he came in, but I settled down. He made me feel comfortable.”
For a few moments, she was able to talk to Obama and pose for a picture.
She signed up the new voters — 120 students and 20 adults — in two days.
“You can’t turn me down,” she laughed.
The Obama headquarters had offered her 20 blank registration cards. She took 200 instead, determined to win the contest.
Ivory is 17, but anyone who will be 18 by the Nov. 4, the date of the general election, is eligible to vote in the primary.
Obama might be her candidate, but she signed up more student Republicans than Democrats. She estimated 30 percent registered as Democrats, 40 percent as Republican and 30 percent unaffiliated.
“This is a conservative campus,” she said of West. “That was no surprise. But I was on a mission.”