Voters flocked to certain schools in Mount Vernon on Tuesday. Photo by Mike Salmon.
The blue sky and winds swirled around the election tables at Whitman Middle School, causing the sample ballots to fly into the parking lot, but
there were issues in many minds that were bigger than that.
“We want stability, peace, calm,” said Tammy McClimans, a resident of Gum Springs who was an election volunteer at the Democratic table out front. “They want to bring us together,” she said of the Democrats on the ticket, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Harold Peffer voted at Riverside Elementary School in Mount Vernon, and felt the issues of taxes, military readiness, economy and education are big issues that the current president has addressed over the last four years.
Was this election as big as the hype he’s heard? “They’re all big, every election is big,” he said. Peffer has lived in Mount Vernon, where the democrats are in the majority, and he said this leads to a problem when it comes to elections. “Most of them vote straight democratic, so I have no idea what their issues are,” he said.
A few feet away at Riverside, John Ring was at the table for the Democrats. “I think our national soul is at stake here,” he said.
A representative from the World Kitchen was handing out breakfast sandwiches and water to everyone as the winds continued. Ring’s wife Adriana Van Breda was also seated at the table. “People that are coming to vote have made up their minds,” she said.
A few feet away at the Republican table, Carmen Trummer was talking to the people arriving. She’s been a Republican Party volunteer for 20 years, but with this election, she felt the Democrats had the advantage of the media to push their agenda. “I think they’ve crossed the line on being press,” she said.
By 9:15 a.m. at Whitman Middle School, they had about 200 voters come up to vote, but more were expected at lunch time and a push about 5 p.m., the volunteers expected. This year, the pandemic caused many to vote early, so that likely impacted the numbers on Election Day.
Carlo Silva, who uses a walker, pulled up in a car driven by his daughter. Election officials brought out the ballot, and took it back in after Silva filled it out. The streetside election service is a new feature this year too, due to the pandemic. “It helps because I am handicapped, it’s a good idea,” said Silva.