SUMMIT COUNTY, Ohio — Voting went smoothly Tuesday in Summit County at several locations during the U.S presidential election between President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden, poll workers said.

 

Most locations experienced a small rush when the polls first opened, followed by a steady flow of voters.

Summit County is strongly Democratic. Out of 88 Ohio counties, it was one of only eight counties that went blue in the 2016 presidential election between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Trump. 

Many Akron locations had volunteers in parking lots, urging support of Democrats.

Olivia Boyer, 17, and Sophia Boyer, 18, spent the day at North High School, which serves a portion of Akron’s North Hill neighborhood. The sisters worked the polls, encouraging residents to vote blue.

“It’s scary to be young right now, especially because I can’t vote,” Olivia Boyer said. “There’s so much to care about.”

Top of mind for the girls are women’s reproductive rights, criminal justice reform and climate change.

“We’re at a tipping point where either we’re going to cause irreversible damage or we’re going to be able to fix it,” Olivia said. “And I’m really scared because I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to live on this planet.”

President Donald Trump’s roll-back of environmental regulations is upsetting for most young people, they said, and they are troubled the country is no longer part of the Paris Climate Accord.

“It’s really important that government steps in and regulates,” Sophia said, pointing to pollution by big corporations. “We want clean water, we want green trees but without action none of those things are going to happen.”

“Just being a young woman today is really scary,” Olivia said. The sisters said they used to protest cuts to Planned Parenthood it its clinics, but stopped because they didn’t want to stress the clients.

“It’s really scary to think that people who aren’t affected by issues like abortion rights or women’s health or universal contraceptive access that they get a say in things that don’t’ even affect them,” Olivia said.

“We just think it’s important that young people vote. We feel like you come out, we come out,” Sophia said, referring to their volunteerism. “All of our friends are doing it too.”

Akronites Carl and Peggy declined to give their last names to protect their safety, they said.

“Isn’t it crazy that we have to?” Peggy said.

“I didn’t want to see a bunch of hillbillies with assault rifles standing around trying to intimidate people,” Carl said.

Even so, the couple wasn’t apprehensive about coming out to vote, but they say they want a change in the presidency.

Ron Ryan, who also voted at North High, said he too wants a change in the presidency.

“Everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie,” he said, about Trump. “I’m one of the people that he supposedly helps, the back end you know, the working blue collar. But he’s not my president.”

Shareefah Wahid began her day before polls opened at the Summit County Ohio Means Jobs Center, handing out flyers to support Magistrate Kani Hightower, who is running for judge of the Summit County Domestic Relations Court.

 

As a mother of six children, Wahid said she is deeply troubled about families being separated at the border.

“I was really concerned about the babies when they were taken away from their mothers,” she said. “That touched me more than anything.”

The wall being built to separate the United States and Mexico also concerns her, she said. She said she considers Trump a businessman who is out of his element as president.

“He did the best he could but I think he needs to give somebody else a chance,” she said.

Wahid calls Biden a “quiet storm.”

“He always was a fair man and low key,” she said. She had hoped Biden would choose Sen. Elizabeth Warren as his running mate, rather than Sen. Kamala Harris, she said.  

“It’s not about color with me,” said Wahid, who is African-American.  “It’s not about black and white any more. It’s about who can do the job.”

Kenneth Slaughter also voted at the Ohio Means Jobs Center, selecting Biden but preferring Sen. Bernie Sanders, he said.

 

 

“It just sucks that these are our only options,” he said. “So it’s kind of like you’re voting for the best of the worst.”

Slaughter said he’s heard a lot of negative things about Harris.

“But at the same time I don’t believe everything I hear,” he said. “You can’t.”

More than 1,000 voters are registered to cast ballots at Findley Community Learning Center in Akron. https://findleyclc.akronschools.com/  

Alexandria Harris spent the day at the school, also support Hightower.

“My main concern is funding within our community, what’s happening with our school system and the bottom line is COVID-19,” she said. “People are losing their jobs; they don’t know where their next meal is coming from; how they’re going to pay their rent next month.”

Harris voted early for Biden.

“He’s not perfect. No politician is, but I’d rather have Biden than Trump,” she said.  She’s more enthusiastic about his running mate, Harris.

“I’m a huge fan. She’s one of my sorority sisters,” she said. “Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.”

Marisa Mathieu and Maranda Trexler also volunteered to work the polls Tuesday. Both women volunteered because they know and support people on the Democratic ticket, and voted for Biden.

Mathieu said racism and immigration are big issues for them.

“They’re just leaving kids here with no parents because they’re trying to deport them,” Trexler said. “It’s just ridiculous.”

Women’s health issues are also at issue, they said.

“I feel like abortion should be a choice, because I feel like if a women were to be raped or something, that could be traumatizing for them if they are forced to have a kid,” Trexler said.

They support Planned Parenthood, however Mathieu said something should be done about women who have multiple abortions.

“Take precautions, do something,” she said. “Have your tubes tied.”

Across town in West Akron, at the Akron-Summit County Public Library, Highland Branch, Early Childhood Librarian Jill Redman said voting had been going smoothly throughout the afternoon.

Akron Ward 1 Councilman Rich Swirsky was in the parking lot, checking on the voting.

 

 

“This is the heart of Highland Square and a lot of my constituents work here,” he said. “I’ve spent many voting days in this little island here 100 feet from the door,” he said.

Trenten Robinson, who supported Sanders, voted there and said everything is important this election because the state of the world is poor.

“Protection and conservation of our land,” he said. He also thinks COVID-19 should be taken more seriously.

At the same location, Kim and Mark Belzer voted for Trump.

 

“He’s done more for this country than anybody else,” Kim Belzer said. “People want to know what can I get for nothing.”

The pair is worried that universal healthcare will lead to socialism, and eventually communism, they said.

“I do not want socialized medicine,” said Kim, who was an RN during her career. “I’m starting to worry if we go to socialism are we going to own our own homes, our own cars?”

They are concerned about the country’s division.

“It makes me feel awful,” Kim said. “How can people not like somebody just because of who they want to vote for. That’s shallow to me.”

Mark said the recent violence in the streets has bothered him, although he acknowledges the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was murder.

“It’s just unconscionable,” he said of the violence. “That sparks unrest with people.”

If the economy is strong and jobs are plentiful, he said, people will feel less like they aren’t getting their fair share and be less violent.