While many USC students are eager to vote in their first election, just across Interstate 110 in ZIP code 90011, individuals have their own reasons for wanting to participate.

Locals had a wide range of opinions regarding why they do or do not plan on voting.

Tamel Jacobs (left) and Nubia Gibson (right), (Knia Frank/Neon Tommy).

Nubia Gibson, 34, and Tamel Jacobs, 42

NT: Will you be voting today?

NG: Yes, later on.

TJ: Yes, I’ve been voting since I was 18. I vote for change. But if it [doesn’t] come out the way you want, there’s nothing you can do.

Raymond Green, 45, driver

NT: Can you tell us why you feel the need to go out and vote today?

RG: Because I don’t trust Mitt Romney!

NT: And why is that?

RG: Because deep within that smile of his, there is an untrustworthy spirit in him...hopefully [President Obama] has learned his lesson behind the mistakes he’s made during his presidency in the last four years and I believe that he’ll really give it his all in the next four years.

NT: Are you surprised that there are many people not voting today?

RG: Yes I am. Because if you want change, you know, there’s an old saying, ‘a closed mouth does not get fed.’ If you want change you have to let your voice be heard.

Alejandra Juarez, 23

NT: Tell us why you think it is important for people to be politically active.

AJ: I guess if you want a better community and better things... I think they should be really into politics and actually know what’s going on.

NT: So why are you voting today?

AJ: Obviously I don’t want my country to be under the hands of someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, and just instead of making it better for us actually making it worse.

Michael August (Knia Frank/Neon Tommy).

NT: Are you going to vote today?

MA: No, I decided not to vote back in the '90s when they passed [Proposition] 187... they overturned that. And then four years ago they passed ‘no same sex marriage’, and we’re still fighting that in court. And it’s my tax dollars that are paying for that. So what’s the point in voting for something when they’re just going to fight it in court?

NT: Do you think whoever wins today will make big changes in America?

MA: No. If the banks went under, they would come back, things always come back one way or another.

Pedro Ward, 60

NT: Why do you think it is important for people to vote?

PW: Well, [people] need to exercise their civil rights. If you don’t vote, you have no say and you can’t complain.

NT: What issues made you want to vote in today’s election?

PW: The economy, basically, but I usually vote anyway. I think it’s my right. I was nationalized, I wasn’t born here, so I figure if I fought to have my citizenship, then I should exercise the right. This is part of the reason why I became a citizen originally. I moved from Panama and have been here for 20 years.

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage on the 2012 presidential election here.

Reach Staff Reporter Knia Frank here. Reach Staff Reporter Hannah Button here.