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Tuesday, November 4, 2008
News More tales from the polls
Posted By Cheris Hodges on Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 5:44 PM
As the afternoon came to a close, more people began showing up.
North Charlotte Precinct 141:
Jackie Maley is 22 andShe voted straight GOP. “I was always raised a Republican,” she said.
Maley said she didn’t have much of a wait to vote for John McCain this afternoon at the University City Library. The line at the library was much shorter than it was when this was an early voting site.
That suited Maley just fine, who said that she voted for McCain because of the war in Iraq.
“I have a lot of friends in Iraq and I don’t agree with how Obama’s going to handle the war. I think it will be suicide for this country,” she said. Maley added that she believes Obama would set the United States up for another 9/11 if he lifts restrictions on Iraq and other hostile countries.
Ryan Woge voted for Obama and the Democratic ticket, but he almost didn’t vote at all.
“This was a last minute decision for me to vote,” he said.
As his friends were leaving to head to the polls, Woge decided to tag along. This is his first time voting, and he said he couldn’t remember if he had registered or not. The last thing he wanted was to stand in line and find out that his name wasn’t on the voter rolls. But it was.
The decision to vote may have been last minute, but Woge said he was familiar with Obama’s policies: “I liked his policies a lot more than John McCain’s and the policies of the last eight years.”
Like Maley, he hadn’t given much thought to rest of the ticket. But he said he feels as if his vote counts.
“This is a swing state and this state matters,” he said before pumping his fist in the air.
And in what could be a sign of how much of a swing state North Carolina is and how the Tar Heel state maybe turning from red to blue, Mecklenburg County Commissioner Dan Ramirez was at the polling place making a last-ditch bid for votes.
Ramirez, an at-large commissioner, said he took advantage of early voting and was out today because he doesn’t have many volunteers in the northern part of the city.
So, which way does he see the state swinging?
“It may be very tight but I think the Republicans are going to take North Carolina,” he said.
Ramirez, of course, supports McCain and Pat McCrory. He said that the Democrats are a little scary this year: “In 2004, I thought if John Kerry won then, that’s just how the system goes. But this isn’t like a political race; it’s more like a movement that they have going on with Obama.”
Ramirez said Obama has “rock star” energy and people aren’t checking what he’s saying and promising to people. And if he wins, “our country is going to change drastically,” Ramirez said ominously.
In North Carolina, voting ends at 7:30 p.m. If you are in line before 7:30 p.m. election officials have to allow you to vote.
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