RALEIGH, N.C.--High school student Charles Howe will cast his ballot for the first time this presidential election and he had some questions for the candidates.

“I’m going to ask about the dropout rate, and what they plan to do,” he said.

Triangle voters like Charles got the chance to chat with presidential candidates over the internet on Saturday. Apple iChat connected people at Wake Technical Community College and at Google headquarters in California to presidential hopefuls Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator John Edwards, Senator Barack Obama, and Representative Ron Paul.

Even though Sen. Clinton was in New York, and the others were at Iowa State, iChat allowed the students to ask them questions face-to-face by sending voice and video over the internet.

"ichat allows us to spread out across the U.S. and bring young people who may not have a voice together with civic leaders, and local issues that are affecting them," said John White.

His non-partisan group Generation Engage teamed up with Apple Computer, The League of Rural Voters, and Google. White says they’re trying to help the roughly 50 % of young Americans without a four year college degree to participate in the political process.

Generation Engage ambassador John Comer says video conferences like this also aim to give people in rural or inner-city communities access they might not otherwise have.

"It's very important to get the younger generation engaged in our community to get out the vote and make people aware of what's going on,” Comer said.

Generation Engage hopes the computers can help them reach young voters like Howe. "It's pretty neat, because we get to learn about what the candidates want to do and what they stand for. And how I vote depends on how they reply.”

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