Word at the polls

By the Citizen staff

On Tuesday, November 3, 2020, amid a global pandemic, voters descended upon poll stations nationwide to cast their ballots. On the ballot were presidential candidates, congress seats, measures and local races, including four seats on the Peralta Board of Trustees. The Citizen put together a team of student journalists and sent them on a mission to find out what is most important to voters and gauge the overall mood of this election cycle in the East Bay. Our journalists explored polls in Berkeley/Albany, Oakland and Alameda.

“We are moving to an authoritarian government with Donald Trump in office, and I don’t think I can bear another moment with him in office.”

“I voted for Bill (Withrow)… I go to College of Alameda. And I think that it’s good, I think that it works for me.”

Regarding the Peralta Board of Trustees vote: “Oh, my God, I can’t remember. Oh, Bill Withrow. Because he’s so familiar.”

On what matters most: “All the things that’s happening with the Black Lives Matter and all this stuff. What lies ahead in the four years, what’s going to happen? Considering if we have a change of president or whether it’s going to happen or not. So I think that’s really more than the base of it.”

Regarding the Area 1 Peralta Board of Trustees vote: “Yes. I don’t remember. I think I decided to have it remain the same. I wasn’t too informed.”

On what matters most: “Environmental issues, the equality of wealth and taxation issues, and care for underserved populations.”

On what matters most: “City and state, the propositions and the measures that deal with “we the people” because we need some help. I know we need it from the leaders. But this internal stuff. We’re a great nation, but we’ve got a lot of internal issues.”

On what matters most: “The independent contractor, [Proposition] 22 I believe. I’m in project managing, for live events. And I was, up until two years ago, a private contractor myself…construction and artistic construction, scenic construction, for conferences, you know, anything for like large corporate events, and hotels and stuff like that. And that doesn’t exist till this COVID thing’s over. So I have to be an independent contractor again, and there [sic] seems like it’s going to be made more difficult for me.”

“I’m the silent majority, I decided to take a stand, it’s getting worse and worse…I’m 77 years old, I look at things like if we as people, not the color of your skin, stand together as a unit, we can change things.”

“President Trump is for law and order. He’s for refunding the police, not defunding. He’s giving jobs to Americans that we never had and refunding middle America. I was a hardcore Democrat until I realized they ain’t doing [anything] for us.”

“When [felons] are incarcerated they pay their debt to society, when they come out they’re a taxpayer, so they should have the right to vote…Money over people is a big problem, and I don’t know what’s going to solve that. I think marching and protesting is good, but now what I think we need to do is protest with our dollars.”

“[I’m excited] to have a chance for my daughter to go with me to vote because she was able to see the process and understand what it’s like.”

“2020 was challenging in a lot of ways, from not being able to see our loved ones to social injustices to unemployment to the fires in California and so many people being let go and everything with politics is so frustrating. But today is a day of hope, I’m excited.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever voted. You know what made me vote this time.”

“I’ve [worked at the polls] several times. It’s about the fourth time I’ve done it in the last 30 years…it’s all different because of the pandemic stuff. They changed everything.”

“[I’m excited] to see all the changes that might happen from my voting. Definitely better funding for the schools because when I went to high school there were definitely a lot of problems.”

“I’ve learned to not really trust my instincts too much because it was such a shocker four years ago. I wrote 440 postcards to voters across the country and I feel like I did my part to encourage people to vote. And that’s the most important aspect of the election.”

“I’d like to see that our kids get a better education. We need to move forward. The time is not for old politics, the time is for new politics. People have to be more global…I think that first of all, we have to get a change of attitudes and priorities. And at the present, we don’t have that. And we need to expand our thinking and, like I said, our priorities have to change.”

“[Running for office] is a great process. Most people don’t pay attention to learning about candidates and issues. And I think that part’s super cool, just getting to talk to people about what you do and why you do it, and why you think it matters.”

“I’m excited to see us, the whole country kind of come together and hopefully get Trump out of office. I’m cautiously optimistic that’s something that we can do.”

“I’m most excited about the grassroots support. I mean, this has really been teachers, families, school site staff coming together, really trying to advocate for a different way of doing things to benefit the students of Oakland.”

“Seeing Millennials and Gen Z step up is pretty incredible. As somebody who’s seen the last few elections as a poll worker, I’m seeing a lot more turnout, and I’m seeing a lot more enthusiasm among young people.”

“The most glaring [area of change] is mental health issues. They really need somebody that they can reach out to or get assistance from, for sure. And that can be a lifetime commitment sometimes.”

“I think this two party system has failed us horribly. It’s one thing to have them on the ballot, but it’s a whole other thing not to allow them into debates. That’s un-American. And that doesn’t represent everybody. And that’s wrong. We’ve been forced into the lesser of two evils.”

“I’m excited for us to have a new president.”
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Christy Price, Luke Wrin Piper, William Ink, Menel Raach, Ryan Barba, Hersh Singh and Veronica Steiner contributed reporting.