Submitted Byron Arriola, 50, of Germantown.

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As the 2012 elections near, The Gazette is talking to voters to ask how they will cast their ballots and why.

Neither President Barack Obama nor former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will get a vote from Byron Arriola on Nov. 6, the Germantown resident said.

An unemployed Democrat, Arriola, 50, said he is not happy with either candidate.

“I am Hispanic and neither have done anything for the Spanish community,” he said.

While he will not support either candidate for president, he said he does plan to vote in the congressional races.

Unsure in which of the newly redrawn Congressional districts he now lives, Arriola said that while the candidate’s name also escaped him, he knows who he will vote for because of what that candidate has done so far for Maryland.

Still, when Arriola visits the polls, the top issue on his mind will be getting out of this recession, he said.

Of great concern is the mounting federal deficit.

“Every day goes by, it gets bigger and bigger,” he said.

On Maryland’s many ballot questions the former Comcast employee said he plans to support same-sex marriage, the expansion of gambling and the Dream Act — which allows some children of undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at Maryland’s institutions of higher learning. He also plans to vote “yes” on Montgomery County’s Question B, which would enact a law altering how county police bargain the effects of management decisions, such as transfers and equipment.

For more voter profiles and information about the election, click here.

kalexander@gazette.net