By Pratik Cherian, 16, Max Gabovitch, 15, Becky Mangan, 13

Do Latinos vote as a bloc? According to students at Duarte High School in Los Angeles County, the answer is sometimes. Jocelyn Gaytan, 17, says her parents vote for candidates if they have a Hispanic name. Talía León, 16, says most people cast their votes after researching each candidate, not based on gender or culture. However, she added that when Antonio Villaraigosa ran for mayor of Los Angeles, many Latinos voted for him as a show of solidarity.

On the Latino voting bloc

TALÍA LEÓN, 16: Hispanics are, in a way, very united. We're all saying "we" and "us" because even though we're all U.S. citizens, there's still a part of us that feels that we're Mexican or Hispanic or however you want to name it. And I think for voting, we are very united. We have very similar thoughts, partly because a lot of Hispanics have the same economic background, so the same issues affect us.

JOCELYN GAYTAN, 17: I think we think alike because we basically went through the same [experience]. I mean, my parents have come over here through the lakes and rivers and walking miles and miles to get to where we are right now. And we are legal now, but I think most of us had to go through that and that's why we believe the same and we kind of vote for the same things.

ALEXANDER AGUAYO, 16: I think we all kind of vote on things the same way on the same issues because we are very worried about each other basically. If it's gonna affect one of us, it's gonna affect all of us.

On the plight of illegal immigrants

JOCELYN: Illegal immigrants, it's really hard for them to find a really good-paying job and to provide for their family.

TALÍA: Illegal immigrants are always worried about being stopped at a corner and asked for papers or whatever and getting deported. But for all immigrants, whether they're here legally or illegally, they came here for the American dream, to have a better life and have their children have a better life.

FONTER LOERA, 17: [They want] the same opportunities as anybody here.

ALEX: There are some parents who are illegal immigrants, but their child may have been young when their parents decided to bring them over. But it's really sad that once they've grown up, they can't really attend a university because they don't have the proper documentation. It's not their fault that their parents decided to raise them here and bring them illegally, and now they can't really get the education.

On issues affecting legal immigrants

TALÍA: For legal immigrants, in my opinion, health care and better-paying jobs are the big issues. My parents are focused more on the issues of education and being able to pay for college because I think we're more low class, so it's hard to pay because they have five children.

JOCELYN: I believe the same as her … health care and education.

ALEX: I think that if you're a legal immigrant, you worry more about immigration and topics regarding education, not just for youth but for the adults who are worried about how their children are gonna fare in a couple of years. And I think about their jobs, they're really worried about where they're gonna work.

TALÍA: Definitely the gas prices. In California, gas is almost $5 a gallon right now and for anybody, particularly for people who are low [income], which tend to be mostly immigrants, it's very expensive and very hard to pay for gasoline every week or every day to get to jobs. It takes a lot of the money out of the salaries.

On the candidates [Note: This discussion took place just before Clinton conceded the race.]

TALÍA: Every Hispanic that I've talked to prefers Obama to Clinton.

FONTER: My parents basically based their decision on the other Clinton's term. They based it on her husband, on his good work, so they just voted based on the reputation the Clinton family has had.

JOCELYN: Right. My parents believe the same thing just because Clinton did a good job with immigration. My parents told me that because of Clinton, they were able to get to be citizens. They were able to get citizenship and they thought, "Well, if we vote for Clinton, Hillary Clinton, maybe she will have the same thoughts as he will."

On the lack of Hispanic youth vote

FONTER: I think that we're not well informed as a community. I think we're always left out.

ALEX: I would say that it's not always just Hispanics. I mean the youth are really sometimes unaware of the issues because they find themselves busy with other stuff. So I wouldn't say that it's just the Latinos.

FONTER: I mean it's hard because most voters by age 18 are stuck having to fill out applications for colleges and things like that. Other stuff comes in life.

JOCELYN: Most young people think that it's not gonna affect us or they think it's not gonna really matter if we vote or not. But like in reality, it's gonna make a big change. It does have to do with our future because we grow up so fast and the president will make a difference in our life.

What the next president needs to address

FONTER: That's a no-brainer. I think it's the economy.

ALEX: I would say the environment.

TALÍA: I've been watching "Sicko" in history class, and I think health care is a big one, but also immigration for sure. This country hasn't paid enough attention to [immigration], especially as the years have progressed. I think it's important for the whole country to stop seeing immigrants as invaders and as outcasts and begin to see them as new citizens and new residents because this country was made on immigrants, some illegal.

JOCELYN: I agree with Talía, health care is a big issue.