Poll workers
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“The turnout has been larger than expected,” said Laura Dahncke, 46, a first-time poll-worker at the Fairview Elementary School polling site who also works at the Monroe County YMCA. “We’re super efficient here, and the clerks are great.”
“It’s been pretty steady here all day, maybe 12 or 15 people in line at the most,” Bloomington resident Mark Hazelbaker said. Hazelbaker, 46, is also a first-time poll-worker who works for Monroe County.
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Cornelius Wright, an inspector at the Unitarian Church polling site, estimated 85-90 percent of people coming through were first-time student voters.
“It’s been smooth, it’s been steady, and it’s great seeing all these young people out here voting,” he said.
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Bloomington resident Emma Johnson, 16, helped work at the polling booths for the first time this year, and she said it’s been calmer than she anticipated.
“I was really expecting people to come in here and rally,” she said.
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Poll worker Chris Johnson said things were different this year.
“I have worked the polls for the last two presidential elections, and this year I felt the need to maintain a demeanor of seriousness,” he said. “In previous years, I felt able to talk, joke and connect with voters, but this year I felt it was best to stick strictly to my formal duties.”
Larry Brown, 66-year-old poll inspector, has worked the polls for several election cycles.
“To me, it’s pretty exciting to see people participating in their government,” Brown said. “It’s not merely a right, but to me, it’s a very sacred exercise.”
Brown said he observed people being very polite and thrilled to vote.
VOTERS
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Voters had to choose the lesser of two evils, John Alexander, 23, said. On Donald Trump, Alexander said, ”I’m more afraid of him than I hate Hillary.”
“This one was a tough one, honestly,” IU student Hannah Brent said. “Social media had a big impact on my vote.”
Brent said she, as a woman, felt obligated to vote for Hillary Clinton, and, being black, she felt obligated not to vote for Trump.
“I voted for party,” Brent said. “Party was my safe zone.”
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Charlotte Zietlow, a retired city council member who is campaigning for Democrat Shelli Yoder for Indiana’s 9th district, said this was the 57th year she’s worked on campaigns.
“People don’t follow the local election enough,” she said.
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The most important issue for Denny’s worker Lacy Simmons was Trump doesn’t win.
“I didn’t just vote against Trump,” she said. “I think Hillary is highly qualified. She’s dealt with all of this before. Trump is highly unqualified in general. He doesn’t even know how to run his own businesses.”
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Hannah Venckus, a student at Ivy Tech, said she felt more passionate about this election than others in the past. “Just keep our country great,” Venckus said. “I think it’s pretty great now — not perfect, but still.
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“I’m involved with trying to force the local government into sanity,” said Marc Haggerty, 68, a longtime Bloomington resident who is campaigning against Proposition I, the fishing and hunting referendum.
Haggerty identified as a Green Party supporter who moved to Bloomington after returning from Vietnam.
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Bloomington resident Kelsey Riggs-Martin, 28, said she struggled to make a decision this year.
“The first time I voted in a presidential election, I knew early on who I was going to vote for,” Riggs-Martin said. “This year I kept going back and forth.”
Riggs-Martin said she made her final decision as she walked into the Free Methodist Church to vote.
IU senior Kayli Wildridge, 21, voted for the first time this year.
“Everybody today has been talking about how today is finally the day, and it is scary,” Wildridge said.
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IU freshman Brendyn Waites is a first-time voter and a black man concerned about racial issues.
“My racial profiling makes me have to have an opinion,” Waites said.
Waites said many people expect him to hate Trump, but this is not reality.
“I like Trump,” Waites said. “Not his mouth, but his business.”
He said the most important thing to him is the safety of black people.
“I don’t think Donald Trump wants the election for the right reasons,” Waites said. “He’s running because he’s a face, a name.
IU senior Ariel Hicks, 20, voted for the first time today and said she worries about social justice.
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“I felt pressure to vote one way so I voted the other way,” Lexie Kolar, an IU business major, said.
IU senior Alex Owen, 22, said he found his second voting experience much easier than his first.
“I was surprised how simple it was to locate the polls here on campus,” Owen said. “There wasn’t even a line when I went, which was nice.”
Nevertheless, Owen said he feels that the election in general was a lot more sinister than the 2012 election.
“It seemed like all the candidates did was attack each other,” Owen said. “It’d be crazy if everyone could just be nice.”
NEGATIVITY
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Derrick Johnson, 49, who works at Top Notch Mowing, said he’s voted in every election since Reagan was a candidate. “The negativity of this election made me pay a lot more attention,” he said. “For the first time, I was scared for America.
He brought his entire family to vote, including his daughter Brooklyn Johnson, 18, a freshman at Ivy Tech Bloomington. “Lowering college tuition prices was a big issue for me,” said the first-time voter. “I try not to let the negativity of the election bother me, but a lot of crazy things have happened.”
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IU Senior Garrett Collins focused on immigration and the economy, but he said he was concerned with how Clinton and Trump always seem “to be at each other’s throats throughout the campaign.” He said he believes Clinton’s campaign is slandering Trump’s character and wishes the policy issues had more focus.
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IU senior Emily Peters emigrated from Canada, and she said she is concerned about both immigration and women’s rights. But she didn’t like the attack ads. “The negativity has made me ashamed of our political system,” she said.
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IU senior Alex Webster said she was most concerned about foreign policy and reproductive rights but was disheartened by the media discourse concerning each campaign. If Clinton wins, Webster said she would tell her, “It’s only going to get harder from here.”
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IU freshman Rachel McCluskey said she didn’t like either candidate but she has some simple advice for whoever wins: “Don’t screw up things, please.”
IU junior Brittany Adams said she voted for Clinton but wasn’t enthusiastic about it.
“You’d better have a good group of advisers, because a majority of America absolutely hates you,” she said.
