High School Students Take to the Polls

While their peers undoubtedly used Tuesday's day off from school as an excuse to sleep in, Hatboro-Horsham High School sophomores Nick Arbaugh and Matt Nesbitt woke early and arrived at a Horsham polling place as the sun was coming up.

Even though they themselves are too young to vote, Nick and Matt greeted voters heading into the Horsham Township Community Center to vote.

"I'm really passionate about politics," said Nick, 15. "I want to do something in civics when I get older."

And on Tuesday Nick got his first taste of the future.

Nick, who described his parents as "pretty moderate," said they didn't have to coax him to hit the polls at 6:45 a.m. on Tuesday. It was something that Nick said he volunteered to do. 

In doing so, he learned who's running in the local races and "how important a nice greeting is," he said between handshakes and the distribution of sample Republican ballots.

Nick acknowledged that seeing teenagers volunteering outside of polling places is rare and added, "we want to change that."

He's trying to start a political debate club at Hatboro-Horsham High School.

For Matt, whose father is Horsham Township Councilman Gregory Nesbitt, helping out at the polls wasn't something he chose to do - at least not initially. 

Matt said Tuesday marked the third year that he's helped out and joked that his dad "forced" him to get involved his first year. Since then, he's wanted to help, he said.

"We're both interested in politics," Matt said of what brought him and Nick to the polls Tuesday.