Things have been running smoothly early on at the polls in Glendale on Election Day.
As the country gets ready to elect a new president, the people of Glendale are making their voices heard at the polls. Although early morning voting was slow, the polling sites are expecting to see an increase in turnout as the day progresses.
As of now, there have been no reports of major problems faced the P.S. 91 and P.S. 119 polling locations.
Damian Naranjo, a resident of Glendale, said after exiting the P.S. 91 voting site that he cast his ballot for Hillary Clinton.
“Immigration is a big issue for me. I am an immigration teacher and some of the people I teach were illegal immigrants and worked really hard to become legal citizens,” Naranjo said. “I saw what one candidate was saying about immigrants and immigration, and I couldn’t vote for him.”
Jose Soto also voted for Secretary Clinton.
“I think she is the right candidate for the presidency,” Soto said. “What I want out of all of this is equality. I want the racism to be over. I could never see [Donald] Trump as president, his is unfit.”
Republican candidate Donald Trump does have supporters across Glendale as several homes are adorned with Trump signs.
Frank Digiovanna, a resident of Glendale, cast his vote for the millionaire from Queens.
“We need some kind of change here in America,” he said. “We need some respect for the country. Look at health coverage, taxes are too high, and there aren’t a lot of jobs. What does [Hillary] have to offer?”
One lifelong resident of Glendale who declined to give her name said she voted for the former Secretary of State, but not as a Democrat.
“I voted for Hillary Clinton, but not as a Democrat, I voted for her under the Working Families Party,” she said. “Some issues that are most important to me are global warming, because it is real. Also gay rights are important because I would like to get married someday. I don’t care about emails, everybody loses emails. What I don’t want is to see a homophobic, xenophobic, bigot as president.”
One thing several of the voters stressed was to not only vote in the presidential race, but to remember to vote local as well.
Naranjo said he was also voting for Congresswoman Grace Meng and Senator Charles Schumer on the local level.
“I voted for Meng because of her fight for women, especially removing the feminine hygiene product tax. That will end up saving a lot of families money. Also, make sure you know who you are voting for. I’ve been seeing a lot of misinformation going around,” he added.
The overall sentiment from voters, especially in Glendale — regardless of who they are voting for — is that they can’t wait for this crazy election cycle to finally be over.
