Capital News Service reporters asked Maryland voters what brought them to the polls. We’ll share their stories here throughout Election Day.
Women draw early attention and votes in Urbana
URBANA, Md. — Still early and chilly on Election Day morning, Ivana Martin waited at a picnic table in her navy blue pajama pants and tan UGG slippers for her mother to finish bubbling in her ballot. Martin was the first one out of the polling center at the Urbana Regional Library on Tuesday.
At 18 years old, this was Martin’s first vote.
“I was excited to vote for a woman,” Martin said of her first ballot. “It’s exciting.”
Martin lives near the library in Congressional District 6 — which has the most hotly contested House race in Maryland, in a state known as a Democratic stronghold. The congressional tract includes parts of Montgomery County as well as all of Allegany, Frederick, Washington and Garrett counties — encompassing the entirety of western Maryland.
In addition to the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris (D) and former President Donald Trump (R) and the U.S. Senate race between Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) and former Gov. Larry Hogan (R), voters here are choosing between April McLain Delaney (D) and Neil Parrott (R) for the district’s House of Representatives seat, which will be vacated in January by David Trone (D). Trone lost to Alsobrooks in the Senate primary.
An independent poll conducted by Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies showed Parrott as a two-point favorite over Delaney in its final poll, conducted in August.
Martin said she arrived at the library between 6:15 and 6:30 a.m., long before the polls opened at 7. She wanted to get done, quick and easy.
She wasn’t the only one excited to vote for a woman.
While Martin waited for her mother, Teresa Llines, 60, completed her ballot. The Urbana resident had waited in line since about 6:30, after her alarm had woken her up two hours earlier. Llines works in Bethesda, she said, and wanted to get her vote out of the way before making her trek down Interstate 270.
Llines said what excited her most about voting Tuesday was the idea of pushing for change. She said she thought about her daughter and her future grandchildren. She said she wanted them to have a future to be excited about. Women’s rights, including the topic of abortion, were the most important issues to Llines in this election, she said.
And the chance for an all-female ticket for the federal offices — Harris, Alsobrooks and Delaney — excited her.
“Women’s voices need to be heard,” Llines said. “We have a lot of women leadership that I think would do a lot of good for our country and for our state. … To help in making positive change for our country and our state.”
Then Llines walked back to her car to drive to Bethesda, coffee in hand. She had a slice of the banana bread waiting for her.
– By Matt Cohen, for CNS
School board and abortion rights drive Bowie resident to vote
BOWIE, Md. – Sue Livera, a 79-year-old retired Democrat voting Tuesday at Bowie High School, said abortion rights and a school board race are what drew her to the polls.
“Choice has to be paramount,” she said of the abortion issue. “Nobody else should be able to tell anybody what to do with your body. It doesn’t make sense for someone else to have an opinion about someone else’s body.”
A statewide ballot question would enshrine abortion protections in the Maryland constitution.
Livera, originally from New Jersey, said she moved to Bowie and worked as a school counselor in Prince George’s County Public Schools. She is now retired and has spent time campaigning for Angela Alsobrooks, the county executive running for U.S. Senate.
“I asked to serve here [Bowie High School] because I was an elementary school counselor so there is a likelihood I know more people here,” she said. Livera said she loves seeing kids she worked with finally able to exercise their right to vote.
Being a school counselor made her realize how important the local elections can be. She said she voted for Zipporah Miller, the current school board member for District 5, because Miller helped to keep a local elementary school open.
– By Peter Riccio, for CNS
Annapolis voter fears violence, economic downturn after election results
BOWIE, Md. — David Duba, a government teacher at Bowie High School, is nervous about the direction of the country and expects backlash from unhappy voters in the near future.
“I’m definitely concerned that there’s gonna be violence today or over the next three months,” said Duba, 30, who voted last week in Anne Arundel County but came to a Bowie polling center on General Election Day to give some students encouragement as they voted for the first time.
“I’m concerned that former President [Donald] Trump is casting doubt on the election processes and spreading misinformation about election results” before votes are counted, he added.
Duba, an Annapolis resident and “firmly a Democrat,” said the economy would be in better hands under Vice President Kamala Harris, who is seeking the presidency.
He added, “If Harris and the Democrats win control of the House and Senate, there could be productive steps to move the economy forward for those who need it most.”
Duba believes Trump’s economic plan does not benefit working- and middle-class individuals enough.
“Tax cuts for the wealthy are going to hurt the economy,” he said.
Trump has promised to extend his tax cut policies implemented in 2017 if re-elected, which reduced the top marginal tax rate to 37 percent for the wealthy.
Harris’s policy would raise the top marginal tax rate to about 40 percent, and propose a new 25 percent tax on unrealized gains for those with a net worth over $100 million.
– By Xavier Board, for CNS
Hyattsville man says constitutional amendment is ‘only rational response’ to attacks on reproductive rights
HYATTSVILLE, Md. — Aditya Pande isn’t a woman. But the women around him, he said, showed him why he needed to vote to protect the right to abortion.
“It’s a matter of autonomy, of course,” said Pande, a 28-year-old registered Democrat from Hyattsville, before voting yes on Question 1 Tuesday morning. “As a man, I’ve been helped on this issue by various women in my life.”
Pande, a graduate student at the University of Maryland, said these women shifted his perspective on the reality of reproductive freedom.
“For most women, they take this choice very seriously, and they feel that to take that choice away from them would be a massive infringement on their natural rights and their autonomy,” he said. “So that’s why I’m voting for abortion protections.”
He reasoned that the threat of federal abortion restrictions necessitated enshrining these protections in Maryland’s state constitution.
Lawmakers may try to “enshrine the reverse thing federally,” Pande said. “It’s the only rational response to what the other folks are doing.”
– By Cat Murphy, for CNS
College Park voters worry about a threat to democracy
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Winston Williams, a College Park resident, said he showed up to vote on Tuesday because he wants to do whatever he can to protect his friends and family.
“Most people feel like democracy is on the line. It is something I hold dear to my heart,” said Williams. “I love this country and I feel like if there’s anything I can do by just casting a vote, that makes a difference.”
“We’re at a tipping point,” said Williams. “There’s a lot of apathy in certain groups that I’m familiar with, they don’t feel like their vote counts. I feel differently. I feel like if one vote can turn the tide and make things better for the country … It all goes back to the democracy we feel like we’re losing if we vote a certain way.”
For Virdina Gibbs, also a College Park resident, the specific threat to the country is Republican candidate Donald Trump.
She said that as long as Trump is on the ballot, she will vote against him.
“I think Donald Trump is always an existential threat to America, so I continue to vote whenever he’s on the ballot,” said Gibbs, who turned out to vote at the College Park City Hall.
“If you don’t wanna let anybody else make decisions for you about anything else that you’re doing in your life, or classes that you’re taking, what you wanna study and what you want to be when you grow up, then you should vote,” Gibbs said.
– By Steven Jacobs Jr., for CNS
UMD student grapples with decision to vote
COLLEGE PARK, Md. –Marisa Riches, a senior biological science major at the University of Maryland, stood outside the campus polling place Tuesday still not sure of who to vote for in the presidential election – or if she would vote at all.
“I don’t really follow news,” said Riches, 25. “I didn’t watch any debates.”
She continued, “I just, like, go with what my parents … say and do.”
But, she said, she was unable to think of a reason not to vote.
“In general, I would vote, because you’ve got to, like, exercise your right,” Riches said.
When asked which presidential candidate she favored the most, it appeared that neither candidate had won her over.
Riches said, “I was going to go to…the voting, like, setting, and just, you know, write down something” on the ballot.
Few issues stood out to her as a voter who had struggled to stay informed this election cycle.
“I would like to see the economy go up, or something like that. I don’t know,” Riches said.
This was to have been Riches’ first time voting in a presidential election, and her second time voting overall.
Despite her ambivalence expressed toward this election, Riches said voting is an important part of democratic participation.
“I think it’s very important, because … everyone is talking about it, so you might as well just do it,” she said.
– By Mary Burke, for CNS
University Park resident says she voted for the grown-up president
UNIVERSITY PARK, Md. – Carrie Murphy of University Park came to the polls Tuesday morning to vote for the best grown-up running for president.
Murphy, 55, a business manager, cast her vote for president for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“It’s absolutely inconceivable that we could face a presidential term led by somebody so patently unqualified for office,” Murphy said of another presidential candidate. “We need grown-ups to run the country.”
The House and Senate elections are also important to Murphy, she said. If Harris is elected to office without the support of Congress, it would make it difficult for her to follow through with the policies she campaigned on, Murphy said. Congressional District 4 in Maryland pits Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey against Republican challenger George McDermott.
On the ballot, Maryland voters are also deciding whether or not to add language to the Maryland Constitution, confirming an individual’s right to reproductive freedom.
“It’s a shame that we have to have things like that added to the ballot,” she said. “But I think the events of the last several years have shown us why we have to do that, unfortunately.”
In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 legal decision affirming that the Constitution protected a woman’s right to have an abortion.
As for after the election, Murphy shared her hope that political disagreements will heal.
“I’m hopeful,” Murphy said. “And very much hope that this election will show that the preponderance of people in the U.S. are who I feel my neighbors are … people of goodwill. We may disagree about different things, but at the end of the day we recognize competence and commitment.”
– By Josephine Johnson, for CNS
University Park GOP voter says religion and politics should stay separate
UNIVERSITY PARK, Md. – Although University Park resident John Burgess was conflicted over what candidate to support for president, he showed up to his polling place at University Park Elementary School and cast his vote before 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
“I voted for one candidate who I don’t necessarily fully believe in. I was conflicted,” said Burgess, 74.
The Republican said he is not very impressed with the two most prominent candidates for president, but believes it is his civic responsibility to vote.
He was, however, firm in his support for the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate race, Larry Hogan, who he said made a good governor during his two terms.
Though his religion and many in his party oppose abortion, Burgess said it should be a matter of choice.
“My opinion is really complicated, because I believe in the separation of church and state,” he said. “I don’t believe that religion should be forced on other people that are not religious. I am Christian myself, but Christianity goes by free will. You have a right to make your own choice.”
– By Ijeoma Opara, for CNS
Mount Airy neighbors express mixed views at the polls today
MOUNT AIRY, Md.–Here in eastern Frederick County, Joan Crook, 72, is enthusiastic about voting for change. For Crook, that means getting Republicans in office.
“I like what Trump did before, and I think he would do the economy good again,” Crook told a reporter this morning.
As for her choice for U.S. Senate, Larry Hogan, she says it’s his experience as governor and his independence that matters to her.
“I think he would do a good job in the Senate,” she said. “He wouldn’t let anybody force him into anything he didn’t want.”
Crook said she was also dissatisfied with the Supreme Court decision that overturned abortion rights in Roe v. Wade, although she did not say where she stood on the abortion-rights referendum on the Maryland ballot.
“I think that abortion should be left to a woman and her doctor,” said Crook. “I don’t think a government should tell a woman what she can and can’t do with her body. They don’t tell men what they can do with their body, so why can they tell women?”
“I just hope everybody gets out and votes today,” she said.
But Bill Duke says he was scared when he left the polling station in Mount Airy, Md., this morning.
“I never thought I’d live to see the day when I was afraid of an election result,” said Duke, 68. “I don’t want Donald Trump to become our president.”
“Neither of us would,” said his wife, Sharon Duke, 65. “He’s everything that’s anti-American, (against what) I’ve been raised on, whether it’s from my Christian faith or whether it’s from my civics class as a kid in Prince George’s County public schools. It’s just taking us in the totally wrong direction.” Sharon said she thinks Trump lacks civility towards others and has a propensity towards violence that’s antithetical to her beliefs.
The Dukes each said they are anxious and are bracing for a wait before the national results come out, so they don’t want to spend too much time today waiting for results.
“Maybe we’ll just see which way the wind’s blowing a little later in the evening,” said Bill.
Another local resident, Erin Childers, said she isn’t thrilled with Trump, but says he was better than the alternatives.
“Everything being just so inflated and expensive, we’re just hoping for some change to bring the cost down for everybody,” said Childers, 45, of Mount Airy. “Groceries and gas, all of it factors in when you’re trying to raise a family.”
Given the choice of two less-than-ideal candidates, Childers said it’s her belief that Trump will do better for the economy that led her to support Trump.
“I don’t like him as a person,” she said, “but I just don’t like my other option.”
– By Robert Stewart, for CNS
Trump’s nomination drives South Baltimore voter to split his ticket
BALTIMORE – Andrew Bounds arrived at the polls Tuesday morning resolved to split his ticket, casting a vote for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican Senate candidate Larry Hogan.
A longtime Republican, Bounds, a 54-year-old trucking company executive, felt compelled to oppose Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his anti-democratic rhetoric.
“Democracy is the number one issue for me,” Bounds said as he waited to vote at Francis Scott Key Elementary/Middle School in Locust Point. “I don’t agree with all the policies that Harris and Biden have had, but I certainly can’t support – for lack of a better word – an ‘a-hole’ to run our country.”
“I do believe that [Trump] has fascist leanings, and he’s just… bad for our country,” he added.
Of his decision to support Hogan in the Senate race, rather than Democratic nominee Angela Alsobrooks, Bounds said he was encouraged by the former governor’s reputation for bipartisanship.
“I’ve always liked Larry Hogan. He was a great governor,” Bounds said. “I think he’d be a reasonable voice in the Senate. I think he’ll be John McCain-like, and he’ll vote his conscience and what he believes in. And he won’t vote the party lines necessarily.”
When asked if he believed Hogan would resist pressure from his party’s right wing, Bounds said, “I don’t think he’ll vote party lines if it means supporting a Trump policy.”
He added, “If he conducts himself in the Senate the way he did as a governor, I think he’ll do just fine.”
– By Liam Bowman, for CNS
Indecision, and then, a sister’s push gets Baltimore woman to vote
BALTIMORE — Novela Sellers wasn’t sure if she would vote until her sister called her and convinced her to go to the polls.
“She just wore my phone out,” said Sellers, 65. Her sister told her to vote for Democrats Kamala Harris for president and Angela Alsobrooks for U.S. Senate.
“I just hope I didn’t do the wrong thing,” the retired Baltimore native said, speaking outside her voting site at Latrobe Homes Community Center in East Baltimore. “I don’t trust none of them. I just feel that they … they just don’t do a good job.”
Sellers said she originally favored Hogan for Senate, and had planned to vote for him, even marking his name on her sample ballot, which she’d received in the mail. But after speaking with her sister, Sellers crossed out the Republican’s name and drew a check mark next to Alsobrooks’.
She had little faith, however, in the Democratic candidates representing her well. “I don’t care about those two,” she said. “They’re kind of hypocrites, you know? They don’t seem like they’ll do what they say. And every time you put somebody in the office, they do what they want to do.”
But Republican Donald Trump, who is hoping to return to the White House, didn’t appeal to Sellers, either. “Well, I always felt he was against Black people,” she said. “It’s like a natural feeling, you know, that he was not for us.”
She wavered, but ultimately cast her ballot for Harris. “I just hope by putting her there she can move up. That she’ll be a good person and do the right things … and then really, really be for the people.”
– By Haley Parsley, for CNS
Voter says she feels a personal connection with Harris
SILVER SPRING, Md. – “We did it,” said Nalini Kukke, sighing after walking out of the voting location in Leisure World. “I didn’t sleep last night.”
“I want the Senate to be Democratic, the Congress to be Democratic and, of course, the president to be Democratic,” said Kukke, 75. She said she is, of course, a Democrat.
Her hometown of Bangalore in India is a “stone’s throw away” –roughly 200 miles – from presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ ancestral village of Chennai, Kukke said. But, she said, the personal connection she feels for Harris extends beyond those close geographical roots.
“She’s very human, she can relate to people,” said Kukke, who moved to the U.S. when she was 20 and did software testing for the Army for 25 years. “And the way she’s smiling” and showing joy, “those are some things we need. We don’t want any bickering, complaints, all those things.”
Her two daughters are also “absolutely Democrats” and are passionate about abortion rights, which Kukke believes is the most important issue in this election.
“I’m a woman, I want all these youngsters, these girls, people, to get the proper service when they need,” said Kukke. “That itself is enough to convince me.”
In Maryland, a ballot question would embed abortion rights in the state constitution.
Kukke also said she supported U.S. Senate nominee Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive who visited Leisure World twice during her campaign.
“I got so many answers,” said Kukke, finding the same reassurance with Harris. “It’s just right, I think.”
“I wish I had a Kamala hat,” said Kukke, posing for a photo. “Oh, by the way, I wore this,” she said, holding her pearl necklace. “Her favorite!”
– By Aline Behar Kado, for CNS
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