Voters head to polls in deadlocked, historic presidential race
Americans went to the polls on Election Day to cast history-making votes.
Americans voted Tuesday by the millions, some with high hopes and others with dread – all with a sense of civic duty.
Doctors and delivery drivers, airline and restaurant workers, software engineers and retired teachers, long-time and first-time voters waited in line to cast their ballots in a presidential election that has captivated – and divided – the nation for months.
They voted across the country in schools, churches and mosques; in courthouses and civic centers and even an NFL stadium. The only certainty is an historic outcome, whoever wins: Americans will elect as president either the first woman or the first person with felony convictions.
Amanda Baldwin was determined to cast her ballot, despite showing up at the wrong polling location in Cobb County, Georgia. The 35-year-old restaurant worker was late to work on a chilly, dreary morning but she wasn’t going to miss a chance to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We haven’t had a female president,” she said. “I think it’s about time.”
In Pennsylvania, Ed Capinski, 83, waited in a long line at an elementary school in Lower Pottsgrove to vote for Donald Trump. He said he believed the former president can help unify the country better than Harris, and he trusts Republicans more than Democrats.
“I really believe that the last election in 2020 there was a lot of finagling going on by the Democrats, and I would listen to what the Republicans say about this election,” he said.
A first-time voter casts his ballot with dad
In Reno, Nevada, waiting voters applauded after workers gave first-time voter Tyler Hilliard, 18, a certificate to mark the occasion. Hilliard, accompanied by his dad, was first in line and first to finish casting a ballot on the Washoe County electronic voting machine minutes after the polls opened at 7 a.m.“I feel pride,” Hilliard said. “I’m feel like I’m lucky I have the right to vote.”Hilliard said he’s still struggling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and voted for candidates he felt would best support mental health.
In Florida, 25-year-old Maria Labrador was also voting in her first presidential election.
Labrador, who grew up in Puerto Rico, said she voted for Trump after researching the candidates.
“I was very left-inclined before and just kept digging, digging, digging into more information and I realized my values do not align at all with the Democratic Party, Labrador said at a polling site in DeBary. “I feel like our values have just gone off the rails.”
Tim Hilliard, 47, said watching his son vote for the first time strengthens his faith in democracy.
The elder Hilliard, a chemical operator, said he voted by mail earlier and was confident his ballot had been properly tracked and counted.“Oh man, you talk about a proud moment,” he said, tearing up. “It’s one of those stepping stones as they are growing up.”
‘We could be the votes that matter’
Nevada is one of seven states that could determine the U.S. presidential election. Voters from there as well as Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona voted with the knowledge that their vote counted.
At the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony in Nevada, tribal member Aiyana Isham accompanied her husband, Kindel Isham, both 25, as he cast his ballot. Aiyana Isham voted early and said she’s hopeful many young people turn out.
In Pennsylvania, Linda Page, 72, of Pittsburgh, said there were more young men in line at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in the city’s historically Black Hill District than there were four years ago – and they were waiting before 7 a.m.
“This area never had a long line, but they wanted to vote,” she said. “They wanted to vote today.”
In Nevada, the state’s 90,000 tribal voters represent just shy of 4% of the total electorate, and tribal officials have been encouraging members to participate. The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony is within the boundary of Washoe County, considered a key swing county in a swing state.“Growing up on the reservation, I know a lot of people are like ‘what does it matter, my vote doesn’t count,’” Aiyana Isham said.
“Your vote is really important,” she said. “We could be the votes that matter for Nevada.”
Black voters targeted by both sides
Voting groups have been surveyed and polled all year, parsed by political party, state, race, religion and education level. Black men have attracted special attention for moving, albeit in small numbers, toward Trump in a race that could make history for Black women.
Jerry Easter, a 66-year-old airline employee, said Black men have been treated unfairly in news coverage, as the Trump campaign has tried to court more men of color. He lined up to cast his ballot at the Islamic Culture Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, and voted for Harris.
“I would love to see a lady president before I leave the world,” Easter said. “I have two daughters. One day I said to myself, ‘That might be them up there trying to be president or something.’”
At Clark Atlanta University in Georgia, Nicholas Thomas gripped his Bible in his right hand as he briskly walked toward the crowd outside the student center at the historically Black college.
Though he had already voted for Harris in his hometown of Houston, he didn’t want to be late to join fellow students marching to a poll site a few blocks away to encourage others.
“I brought the Bible because we’re going to need God and at the end of the day no matter who is elected, God is still on the throne,’’ said Thomas, 24, a senior at the historically Black college and a chaplain for his Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
As they marched up the hill, the students and others chanted, “When we vote. We win!’’
Key issues: Abortion, immigration, economy, healthcare, democracy
Jarrett Clark and his husband Anthony Pecora wore matching red, white and blue sweaters to vote at Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.
Their list of issues reflected everything the Democrats have worked to put front and center this election: democracy, healthcare, climate change and reproductive rights. That, and the economy.
“One presidential candidate wants to lower prices and another wants to add tariffs and is more interested in profiting off Americans,” Pecora, 43, said.
“A lot is on the line,” Clark, 37, chimed in. “I think the foundation of our democracy is at stake. Our healthcare, reproductive rights. Our freedoms.”
At the University of Nevada’s Reno campus, hundreds of students queued quietly after lunch to vote in a cavernous ballroom, watching videos on their phones as they waited.
Sophomore Eden Halperin, 21, said said she backed Harris because she believes in fighting climate change, along with preserving a woman’s right to choose whether to have an abortion.“My biggest thing is autonomy,” she said. “Unfortunately we’re at a time where that’s a major focus.”
Though Democrats have tried to own the issue, abortion restrictions were also motivating Republican voters to the polls.
In El Paso, Texas, at the U.S.-Mexico border, Bertha De la Vega waved a huge red flag with Trump’s name. The abortion issue had inspired her to vote Republican, she said.
“I support Trump because he stands for human life, for the unborn,” she said. “That’s my heart. Democrats – all they promote is abortion, and I couldn’t stand for that anymore.”
The impact of two assassination attempts
Laura Lindsey, of Harrisburg, North Carolina, said she’s been an avid Trump supporter for the past decade, and that opponents are underestimating how the two assassination attempts defined the 2024 contest.
“Emotionally it made me realize that this man who could have all this time to stay on a beach somewhere and spend his money sacrifices so much for us,” she said.
The 46-year-old healthcare worker wore a T-shirt with Trump’s fist raised moments after almost being killed. She said her husband, a registered independent, wasn’t going to vote for Trump but changed his mind about the former president after the first shooting in Pennsylvania.
Lindsey said immigration is the main reason for her showing up to the polls and that she agrees with the Trump plan to deport millions of immigrants in the country illegally. But despite her devotion to Trump, she doesn’t believe the country will be destroyed should Harris win.
“America can survive an election,” she said. “I’m just not going to like it for the next four years” if her candidate loses.
Taylor Swift fans hope Harris will give them ‘The Best Day’
In the months leading up to election, experts had speculated about the impact pop superstar Taylor Swift might have on the race.
Swift helped spark a record-breaking 35,000 people to sign up to vote on National Voter Registration Day, and then in September she endorsed Harris moments after the end of the sole presidential debate she had with Trump.
Outside the Joe Crowley Student Union at the University of Nevada’s Reno campus, sisters and Swift megafans Juliana and Alexa Patton said her decision to endorse Harris was both welcome and needed.
Wearing an “Eras Tour” sweatshirt, Juliana Patton, 19, has seen Swift in concert six times.
“When she endorsed her, I really felt like it was someone I aligned with. It felt cool to connect on that level,” said Patton, a sophomore.
Sporting a Harris-Walz button on her backpack, sister Alexa Patton, 19, said she quickly shared Swift’s Harris endorsement across her own social media.
“I wanted to show that someone I looked up to my whole life was in the same page as me,” said Alexa Patton, who has seen Swift perform eight times. “I would hope that it would have engaged young voters to get registered and to vote.”
But will Americans accept the election results?
The Hilliard father and son said they didn’t discuss who they were voting for, and both said it was important to accept the results no matter the winner.
“I do think we need to accept the results either way. I do wish legislators would learn how to compromise,” Tim Hilliard said. “Until we can get off this red-blue mess, we aren’t going to learn what compromise is.”
Ann Barkasi, 67, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, said she has voted in every election in her lifetime and is ready to see the country come together.
“I care about women’s rights, democracy, the country coming together,” she said. “There’s so much hatred. I was standing in line in front of someone today, and the things they were saying, they were cursing, and it’s not necessary. We’re supposed to love one another. I’m a Christian, and there should be more of that,” Barkasi said.
In Nevada, Reno resident Zackery Kuhns, 19, said he voted for Trump because he believes the former president is best-suited to help him earn enough money to support his family.
“You’re picking the best of worst choices,” said Kuhns, after casting his ballot alongside his mom.But he said he would accept the results, whoever wins: “They won fairly by democracy.”
April Rivers voted at the Islamic Culture Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 24-year-old entrepreneur said she suspects some people may not accept the 2024 results, including Trump, but she is confident in Harris’ chances.
“I know that God has the final say, so I know He ain’t going to let nothing go down that ain’t supposed to,” Rivers said.
Conchita Kluengling, 61, voted for Harris at Grace Lutheran Church in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Regardless of the outcome, she hopes Americans respect the results.
“We have no choice but to accept that we all cast a vote, and just like anything else, you win some or you lose some,” she said. “So you may not win today, but we have four more years, and then we can try it again.”
An end to the onslaught of political ads
There was one thing many American voters could agree to celebrate: the end of political advertising.
“We’re just ready to move on,” said Jacob Kossler, a 24-year-old software engineer who voted at the Cobb County Civic Center in Georgia.
“I’m just ready to stop seeing these ads 24/7,” he said. “I’m just trying to watch a football game without having to see two back-to-back ads … hearing about how someone is the devil.”
The 2024 federal election is on track to be the costliest ever, with spending near $16 billion, according to OpenSecrets.org, a nonprofit organization that tracks money in U.S. politics.
In Pennsylvania, 42-year-old Pranav Patel didn’t want to say who he voted for when he dropped off his ballot in Warrington Township on Monday evening. But he was tired of the outreach from both campaigns.
“I think there are too many calls, too many in-person advertisements, in-person calls,” he said.
Patel showed USA TODAY more than a dozen missed calls he received from campaigns during the two hours before he went to vote.
“That’s not going to have me change my mind who I’m going to vote for,” he said.
Contributing: Aysha Bagchi, Phillip M. Bailey, Deborah Barfield Berry, Terry Collins, Trevor Hughes, Erin Mansfield, Dinah Pulver, Sarah D. Wire and Omar Ornelas.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
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Publish date : 2024-11-06 07:02:00
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