Credit: (Gary Love)Editor’s note: New Jersey State House News Service, a nonprofit organization that works with student journalists to cover public policy, contributed the reporting in this story. The student journalists were Gary Love, Skye Frawley, Matthew Kaufman and Isabella Darcy.
Griffin Sullivan, voting in Ewing, said Vice President Kamala Harris was his choice for president “because I believe in democracy, and it’s pretty much that simple. I think that elections are cool, and I want more of them.”
Why he voted in person: “I forgot that mail-in was an option.”
The important issues for John Kowal, also voting in Ewing, were “peace, economy. I hate to use the word ‘wall’ because that sounds divisive, but control of the wall.”
Kowal opted for in-person voting “because it’s fun. I don’t really think it matters, to be honest, in the past couple of elections, but I’m still going to do what in my heart is supposed to be right.”
Harris was the choice of Varina Orchard, who voted in Cherry Hill. “I think there’s been a lot of mud slung instead of going through what their plans are,” Orchard said. “I think [Trump] touched on having a plan but he hasn’t gone into what the plans are, which makes it hard.”
Credit: (Gary Love)Carlos Caquias, another Cherry Hill voter, said, “[Trump] said Puerto Ricans are trash; we are not trash.”
Luna Maldanado, was a first-time voter in Cherry Hill. “I try to look out for every community, not just my community because I think that’s important,” she said.
Credit: (Gary Love)John Capobianco, voting for the first time too, cast his vote for former President Donald Trump at West Milford Town Hall. “I only did the in-person, I didn’t do any of the other things,” he said. “You know, mail-in ballot seems a little fugazi to me, so I’d rather show up. This way I know what I put in [gets] put in.”
Capobianco said he chose Trump “because the way the country is now, it can’t get any worse, and they’re the ones that messed it up. So, you know, he’s not a politician, he’s a leader, but I’ll take that over the leadership we have now.”
Back in Cherry Hill, Jay Medero, another first-time voter, chose Harris. “I think she’ll actually do what she says she’s going to do. … I’m Puerto Rican so I wouldn’t vote for someone who called my home trash.”
She added, “Rich people aren’t being taxed the same as poor people and that’s because of [Trump’s] tax cuts.”