LORAIN — With clipboard in hand, Ben Schaefer worked his way Saturday afternoon down Oberlin Avenue, making sure residents there were registered to vote.

“This campaign, more than any other, is exciting because so many people are involved,” the 21-year-old said.

A Lorain native, Schaefer is now a senior political science major at Baldwin-Wallace College. He’s hitting the streets as part of the Barack Obama campaign.

“I like the fresh air he brings to Washington,” he said. “You can tell that when people talk, he listens.”

He wasn’t alone Saturday. About 10 volunteers met at noon at a Broadway office owned by state Sen. Sue Morano, D-Lorain, and dispatched to different areas of the city.

Canvassing Friday had registered 40 new voters in Elyria and 75 more at the evening’s Lorain fireworks show.

Sally Olsonoski, 68, of Sheffield Lake, also was out registering voters Saturday.

“I’m out here mainly because of the last eight years. We can’t have more of the same,” she said.

She said she wants the next president to end the Iraq war, find alternate energy sources and address climate change — and she thinks Obama will be the one to accomplish those goals.

“McCain wants to drill for oil. He wants you to get a private health care account. The war? He said we should be there 100 years and not come out until we win,” Olsonoski said.

Ben Schaefer’s brother, 17-year-old Max Schaefer, said fixing the economy and weaning American oil dependence are the issues that will affect his generation the most.

A senior at Southview High School, Max Schaefer said most of his classmates aren’t too keyed into the presidential race, but many have spent the bulk of their lives under the Bush administration and don’t like it.

“I can’t vote in this election because I won’t turn 18 until December,” he said. “But I figure I can go out and change as many opinions as possible and help make Barack Obama president.”

The deadline to register to vote in Ohio’s November election is Oct. 6.

Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.

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