Anthony David became a first-time voter on Tuesday. At 19, he’s had a black president in office for a large percentage of his life, and while it was in the back of his mind while voting, the thought that black people were at one time not allowed to vote isn’t a driving force for him. ‘[America] has changed a lot since then,” he said.
Not long ago, David was not sure if he’d even vote, but after receiving societal pressures from social media and peers, and looking at the vast differences between the candidates, he decided to cast his ballot.
“In this specific election I felt like I needed to vote for personal reasons,” he said. “It’s bigger than ever before. These two candidates are different than any presidential candidates we’ve had before.
You have Hillary Clinton, she’s a woman, she’d be not only the first woman but the first mom.
You have Donald Trump, he’s just a person who I would never have imagined would be in the race.”
David invoked another right that comes with voting: the right to keep his vote private, from election pollsters and even from journalists.
“I feel like I did my part, got my sticker, now it’s just waiting to see who wins.”
Evelyn Aillon Beran, of Mason, is a registered Independent who typically leans to the right.
She believes in small government and is a fiscal conservative. On top of that, her husband works with a defense contractor, which meant that the Hillary Clinton email issue hit “very close to home.”
“My husband is held to a different standard than her, so that was disappointing,” Aillon Beran said.
Even with all of that taken into consideration, she still can’t support the Republican nominee Donald Trump this election cycle.
“I wanted to vote for Trump and believe he was an outsider with a more conservative approach,” she said. “As time went on I just [couldn’t] do it.”
She said her parents immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. She and her siblings grew up in Chicago and are first generation Americans.
Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants and women in particular make it impossible for her to support the candidate. She said her husband is still casting his vote for Trump.
As for her, she will reluctantly vote Democratic at the top of the ticket and Republican the rest of the way down.
“I did vote for Obama in 2008 but was very disappointed, so I voted against him in 2012,” she said. “I am concerned that Hillary will go too left.”
Charlie Saari, a pastor at Freedom Fellowship and Gates of Freedom Ministries Inc., has been giving a 53-year-old veteran a ride to church every Sunday and lifts to his doctor’s appointments.
On Tuesday, Saari gave Michael Gulliver, of Greenville, a ride to the polls.
Gulliver was in the military for a number of years and traveled around the country, never staying in one place too long.
The years ticked by, and he never voted.
This year, he expressed an interest in voting, and Saari said he offered him a ride to the polls.
“We’ve talked (about politics) and we are like-minded in our voting,” Saari said before Election Day. “I mean we go back and forth, and we have stronger views than others. But we’ll be voting the same way.”
Saari said their similar beliefs is not the reason why he offered to give Gulliver a ride to the polls, rather that it’s an added benefit.
“I would have taken him no matter what,” Saari said.
Both are planning on voting for Donald Trump, although Saari said he is voting more for the Republican platform and the ideals of the party rather than this year’s nominee.
Cecilia Roggenkamp placed a ballot into the voting machine in Peterborough as moderator L. Phillips Runyon looked on. It was Cecilia’s second time doing so, having turned in a ballot during the primary, as well. Pretty impressive for a two-year-old.
“I think it’s important for her to be involved in something that we’ve worked so hard for,” said Cecilia’s mother, Jennifer. Jennifer brought her daughter to the polls in hopes that she would help make history and elect Hillary Clinton as the country’s first female president, that Cecilia might grow up knowing she could be anything she wanted — even leader of the free world.
“Our families need it,” Jennifer said of a Clinton victory. “Our families deserve someone who isn’t going to speak poorly of anybody.”
Dan Hall strapped Scott Leafe’s wheelchair into the back of a van Tuesday morning.
Leafe had just cast his ballot at the Greenfield Town Hall and was getting ready to go back to the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center.
Hall, who works at the center, said a shuttle to the polls was available to anyone who was interested in voting throughout the day. As of Tuesday morning, only Leafe had taken advantage of the shuttle.
“A lot of people voted with an absentee ballot,” Leafe said of the other residents at the center.
But Leafe said he wanted to do it in person.
“I’m coming from Crotched Mountain on a beautiful voting day,” Hall said. “I want this to last all day.”
Leafe said he is voting for Donald Trump this election.
“I like the way he talks. His business. He’s a business guy, he’s going to get the country going on business and jobs. He can do that. And that’s what we need in America,” Hall said. “Factories are closing down and all that and I think he’s better for that. Making business deals. We don’t need a politician and Hillary Clinton is a politician. Trump isn’t a politician.”
This election, he said, he voted up and down the Republican ticket.