Elections 2009

First-time voters

Posted

Anna Kunken, who emigrated from Poland 11 years ago and became an American citizen this summer, voted in a U.S. election for the first time on Nov. 3 at Riverside Elementary School. She said her husband, Ken Kunken, who is a Nassau County assistant district attorney, more closely follows local politics than she does, but that she has steadily become more informed. Anna also said she is thinking of volunteering to be a poll watcher because she found it very interesting.

For his part, Ken, also had a first-time voting experience this election day: He was able to vote in person using an adapted voting machine. A quadriplegic as a result of a spinal cord injury he sustained 39 years ago, Ken had always voted using absentee ballots. When asked how it was to use the machine, he said that once they figured out how to work it, "it went great."