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WASHINGTON: She carefully planned a five-hour trip to the polling place in her hometown of Tennessee to vote on Election Day.
He considered the traffic, the weather, the growing coronavirus pandemic and – something he never imagined having to contemplate – the possibility of civil unrest after the US elections.
The past four years have caused so much commotion that anything seemed possible to Lacey Stannard, the wife of a soldier. He had tried to have an absentee ballot sent to his home at a military base on the other side of the state. But the employee from his hometown refused.
A part of her thought it was insane to drive 10 hours roundtrip to cast a Democratic vote in Tennessee, but a large part thought her displeasure was worth recording.
Many Americans who lined up before dawn to vote on Election Day are exhausted from constant crises, restless over volatile political divisions, and anxious about what will happen next. Like those who voted early, their agony is not deciding between President Donald Trump or his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
Trump supporters Carol Reed, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, right, and Matthew Woods, dressed as a Continental Army soldier, cheer at an intersection during a rally in Mount Clemens, Michigan, on October 29, 2020. (Photo: AP / David). Goldman)
Most made that decision long ago. By contrast, those who vote in record numbers say that basic democratic foundations suddenly feel fragile: Will their votes count? Will the loser accept the result? Will the winner find a way to repair a fractured, sick, and unstable nation?
Stannard, a 28-year-old mother of two, hit the road Monday night to make it to the polls early on Election Day, only to turn and rush home before an uncertain conclusion can aggravate her. a nation that is already nervous: the fear that she blames. the president’s penchant for pitting people against each other.
“When the election results start rolling in, I’d rather be safe at home, which is sad because never in my life … would I have thought I’d have to hurry and vote and get home so I wouldn’t have to. be afraid, ”he said.
“That’s one of the reasons I drive five hours to vote because I shouldn’t have to feel that way.”
Across the country, Americans say the stress of these elections has made them physically ill. Others have obsessively followed polls to calm their nerves, or bought guns, or investigated moving abroad or retired to a cabin in the woods. The tension has risen as each side believes the other threatens to usher in the end of America as we know it.
On Tuesday morning in the critical battlefield suburbs of Detroit, Karama Mishkoor, 57, and her daughter planned to vote, go to work and immediately return home.
“Please, please don’t go anywhere else,” Mishkoor pleaded with his daughter, Ashley, 24.
Mishkoor, a devout Catholic and immigrant from Iraq, said she fled that country decades ago in search of peace, stability and freedom, and is sad that now this nation seems so shocked.
They support Trump, but they didn’t put up signs in the yard because there is a lot of anger. Ashley Mishkoor said she had seen partisan vitriol piling up on social media and wondered: What if that opens up in real life?
“This week is really scary,” he said. “I just hope that, be that as it may, there is peace in our country.”
Also in Brooklyn, voter Nurit Dallimore compared the political climate to the “war zone” atmosphere of her native Israel.
“The country is so divided that I feel like it’s not going to be good in any way,” Dallimore worried.
A nation already uncertain about its future amid a worsening pandemic, an economic hit, and a series of police killings that forced national recognition of racism is now contemplating the additional threat of potential clashes in the wake of Election Day. .
Caravans of Trump supporters obstructed traffic in the New York metropolitan area this weekend. In Texas, cars and trucks adorned with Trump flags swarmed a Biden campaign bus, sometimes jamming it.
Trump criticized the FBI for investigating the incident, calling the drivers “patriots.” Weeks ago, a group of men were arrested for allegedly conspiring to kidnap the Democratic governor of Michigan. Arms sales are through the roof. Last week, Walmart announced that it removed ammunition and firearms from displays, citing “civil unrest.”
About 7 in 10 voters say they are looking forward to the election, according to an AP-NORC poll last month. Only a third are excited. Biden supporters were more likely to be nervous than Trump voters: 72% to 61%.
But Trump supporters also said they feel a sense of dread. The president has warned them that if he loses, the country would reel towards socialism, crime would consume the streets, freedom would bow under political correctness.
“I feel terrified in a world with Biden, absolutely terrified,” said Susan Spence, 69, a retired teacher in Powder Springs, Georgia. “I am here because I believe in Americanism, not socialism.”
As the coronavirus crisis escalates to more than 9 million infections and 230,000 deaths, the choice for many is a referendum on how Trump has handled the pandemic. In the final days of the campaign, he has continued to downplay the price he has charged, and many of his followers say they find no fault with his response.
Olivia Tomlin, a 70-year-old woman in Nashville, said she lost family members to the virus and still supports the president.
“I voted for Trump because I think he was treated unfairly for the coronavirus, and I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. I think it’s something that happened that we couldn’t control, “he said.” I still think it was out of our control. “
But Haydee Gregeda arrived Tuesday on her 75th birthday at a polling place in Brooklyn, using a cane and holding tightly to her daughter’s arm. He has had trouble walking since spending more than two weeks in an ICU fighting the coronavirus.
“The president didn’t pay attention to us, so where are we headed?” she asked. “Thousands and thousands more will die.”
Early voting numbers suggest that 2020 will break voter turnout records. Trump has alleged that the widespread absentee vote will lead to fraud, although there is no evidence to support that claim.
Diane Spiteri grabs her absentee ballot before dropping it off at the city clerk’s office in Warren, Michigan, on Oct. 28, 2020 (Photo: AP / David Goldman).
In a rural stretch of upstate New York, Jim Czebiniak, 72, semi-retired, came to vote Tuesday in town hall.
“I don’t trust the way mail is handled, I don’t trust the way ballots are ignored or thrown away,” he said.
In Macomb County, Michigan, Terry Frandle hung Trump banners outside his home and noticed that neighbors who used to stop for a chat crossed to the other side of the street, without even offering a “hello.”
Some drivers wave, others turn the bird around. He doesn’t blame Trump for the discord; blames Democrats and the media for not giving Trump a fair shake, he said.
“I just don’t trust anything anymore,” he said, except for what he hears directly from Trump. He also did not trust mail-in ballots, so he voted in person on Election Day.
In Lexington, Kentucky, Jonaé Collins, 26, never received his absentee ballot in the mail, so he planned to go to the polls Tuesday afternoon. She was nervous. She wasn’t sure how the crowd would act and how discord would develop in the country afterward.
“I feel like whoever wins there will be outrage and that scares me,” he said.
In West Philadelphia, James “Sekou” Jenkins, a 68-year-old retired carpenter and mechanic, said he voted in person for Biden “to get that madman out of the White House.” Jenkins fought for civil rights in the 1960s, and said he feels Trump is “drawing battle lines.”
Mark Creighton in Lexington, South Carolina, voted for Trump in 2016, but has come to agree with Jenkins.
“Trump is a maniac. It’s an embarrassment to this country, ”said Creighton, 46, who voted for Biden and Senator Lindsey Graham’s Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison. Graham, he said, was Trump’s puppet, and that “says a lot about his character.”
He rebuked the president for inciting violence and refusing to condemn white supremacy.
Trump, in a recent debate, told a far-right group to “back off and stay on the sidelines.”
Terry Frandle, a Trump supporter, checks his mailbox in his front yard decorated for Halloween and a Trump re-election campaign in Saint Clair Shores, Michigan, on October 28, 2020 (Photo: AP / David Goldman).
As a black woman, Charlotte Moss, 64, of Oakland County, Michigan, chose not to live in fear. He was increasingly concerned about emboldened militant racist groups.
It had once seemed outrageous that leaders stoked racial tensions to pit Americans against each other, perhaps even violently. But that doesn’t seem so scandalous anymore, he said.
She had never owned a gun, but about a month ago she bought one.
“Hate is in the front line. People are no longer afraid of being hateful, ”Sadiyyah Porter-Lowdry said while voting Tuesday in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It feels a little different, but it also feels very similar.”
Many people were afraid to vote on Election Day, he said.
But she didn’t want fear to stop her, so she marched to a Baptist church to cast her vote.
