BALTIMORE — After months of advertisements, arguments, and angst over the various candidates and issues this long campaign season, casting a ballot couldn’t come soon enough for many.
“It’s such a relief,” said Shavon McKeever of Northeast Baltimore, “I said, ‘I want to come out the first day. I couldn’t wait. I had everything going on online trying to see where early voting was. It’s just such an important election that it’s just important to come out. Everybody in there is smiling. Everybody’s happy.”
This may not be the first time the general election has been billed as one of the most critical in our nation’s history, but it certainly comes with a heightened sense of security surrounding it.
“I don’t expect anything here to be violent, but we never know if the other states are and what’s going on in the other states and what people’s mindsets are, because people’s minds are all over the place and we never know what a person’s mental health could be either so I don’t expect it here. Not at all,” said Bishop Anthony Johnson of Restoring Life Family Ministry.
Baltimore City Election Director Armstead Jones says polling judges have been instructed to dial 911 at the first hint of any trouble should it occur.
“We’ve planned some plans to make sure that if anything does occur that immediate attention is placed on it,” added Jones.
But the focus right now for these voters is to finally decide the future of the electorate.
“It’s very important,” said Micha Washington, a sophomore at Morgan State University, “I think that we’re in crucial times and it’s not about one side or the other. It’s about what’s right.”
And for those who choose not to exercise their right, there comes these words of caution.
“They have no right at all to complain if they don’t vote because voting is very important,” said Raymond Smith of Northeast Baltimore, “If you want to get the things in your life that you need for your family, then you need to vote so the government will listen to you, which they may or may not.”
