The sun has set on Election Day. Voters in South Dallas and Oak Cliff, Irving and Corpus Christi shared why it was important for them to vote on Tuesday.
South Dallas & Oak Cliff
At Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, 24-year-old Jordan Seales said he woke up at 5:30 a.m. to make sure he beat the lines on Election Day.
“Even though people don’t believe their voice matters, we’re still getting record turnout for people voting,” Seales said. “That’s what matters to me the most.”
Diane Gibson is a 64-year-old voter from Oak Cliff. She got in line early Tuesday morning at Friendship-West Baptist Church.
“I vote for my grandmother who wasn’t allowed to vote,” Gibson said. “I have never seen so much dividedness in my life.”
Monroe Allen is a 77-year-old voter who cast his ballot at South Oak Cliff High School.
“The first time I voted, I was in the Navy,” Allen said. “I’ve voted every election since I turned 18. I vote because it’s important we put people in office that will run our country. I love America, but now we got things to fix in our own country.”
He later helped his wife curbside vote at the high school.
Jay Cruz, 25, and his mom Juana M. Cruz, 61, are Mexican Americans and first-time voters.
“We’re hitting 90,000 new cases per day, so it’s really important for us to make a change,” Jay said. “I want to see change, I want to see America become a democracy again.”
He recently quit his job as a middle school teacher because of the severity of the pandemic.
“The district doesn’t care about your well-being,” Jay said. “I had to quit and I had to vote.”
Juana recently became a U.S. citizen.
“I was a little nervous,” she said in Spanish. “I’m hoping the one we voted for will win.”
Irving
A line started to wrap around Valley Ranch Library in Irving at 7 a.m. The polling location has eight voting machines and one for those with disabilities.
Poll workers said they anticipate a long, hectic day. They told those waiting in line that they could head to a nearby polling location if they didn’t want to endure the long wait.
The line continues to grow at Valley Ranch Library in North Irving. #TXdecides @keratx @TexasStandard pic.twitter.com/4UqsOnUrki
— hady mawajdeh (@hadysauce) November 3, 2020
Despite the long line, voter Lashontae Sherrer said she “feels great!” She said, “I was in and out.”
Sherrer said she’s voting today because she’s “hoping for a better president, so we can get this world back on the right path.”
For Saree Mundi, voting is normally a chore. But not today. She said #Blacklivesmatter and the fight for women's rights brought her to the polls today.
“It’s my duty. And this one... for sure. I wasn’t missing this one," she said.
Over at the Irving Arts Center, it was less crowded.
Jessica Aguilar, a first-time voter, said she felt that it was important to be at the polls as aLatina and the daughter of immigrants.
“I don’t like how minorities are treated,” she said. “I’m hoping this can change. But I worry people don’t know what’s happening.”
Another first time voter from Irving, Matt Ramirez, said he’s voting because of the president’s response to COVID-19. The issue hits close to home.
“Everyone in my family lost their job because of this... and we tried to live off of my unemployment for a bit... it should’ve been handled better,” he said.
Corpus Christi
At the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Center, Vince DeLeon said he waited until the last minutes to vote.
“I would feel guilty if I didn’t participate this year,” he said.
Howdy, #CorpusChristi! I was at the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Center this morning.
— Mía Estrada (@miaaestrada) November 3, 2020
Vince DeLeon was one of the voters I spoke with. He says he waited until the last minutes to vote.
“I would feel guilty if I didn’t participate this year.” @keranews #TXDecides pic.twitter.com/brR3BMrFwc
Vietta Brown is a first-time voter in Corpus Christi. She said the president is making a mockery of the nation. She couldn't put this election on the back-burner.
"We just need a change," Brown said. "You're not going to always like you put off in there, but we're hoping we get something better than what we have now."
Joe Drennan brought his 10-year-old daughter Ava Talamante to vote with him at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. He said voting on Election Day is a tradition for him.
“I’m old school. I like to vote on Election Day."
Drennan said he’s voting on behalf of those who are conservative. He said he doesn’t want to move towards a socialistic government.
“I’m really voting for the conservative people, the constituents who are hanging out with Mr. Trump right now — that’s who I stand for,” he said.
University Park
Tom Haney is a junior at Southern Methodist University. He stood in front of SMU’s Moody Coliseum, handing out snacks and water to voters. He decided to help out so that he could make the process a little easier on people who might be waiting in long lines.
“I think this election is pretty important and we’ve got to support people who want to exercise their right to vote and make it as easy as possible to do that,” he said.
Michael Moore is also a student at SMU who's voting in a presidential election for the first time. He said the economy is top of mind. He’s from Illinois, where people he knows in the restaurant industry are suffering from the pandemic recession.
“I think the most important issue for me was the economy as a whole because with COVID, the economy really took a hit and it’s important to get it back to where it was,” he said.
Moore said it’s possible that there could be political unrest after Tuesday night.
“I really hope there won’t be but I feel like either way there’s going to be something happening,” he said.
Denton County
In The Colony, Tarik Ouradi said immigration is a key issue. He's an immigrant, and he said the system has been broken for a long time.
"It's more than just borders and kids getting locked up," Ouradi said. "There's a lot of people out here with PHds who are having problems just because the system is all messed up."
First-time voter Jayson Koehler says he cast his ballot in The Colony to protect his rights.
"Democrats are trying to infringe on a lot of the rights that I hold dear — the First Amendment, the Second Amendment — those kind of issues. Those are important enough in themselves to vote for," Koehler said.
Terry and Susan Smith from Denton say they’re concerned about the division in our country and are voting in the hopes that political and civil unrest stops. pic.twitter.com/3Zc8mkwvkv
— Bekah Morr (@bekah_morr) November 3, 2020
El Paso
Joachim Graziani of El Paso, originally from Germany, said he was a Republican — now, he's a Democrat. Why?
"Trump."
He said that the president's racism and lack of response to the pandemic that influenced his vote this year.
"I'm nervous a little, but I'm confident I did the right thing," Graziani said.
KERA's Hady Mawajdeh, Bekah Morr and Keren Carrión contributed to this report, as did KERA interns Mia Estrada, Lauren Rangel, Madison Hurd, Veera Marai and Jessica Cross. Anahy Diaz contributed from El Paso.
