As nightfall crept over the Taylor Community Center, so did the last few voters who were filing in after leaving work.

 

An aged 60 man who preferred to stay anonymous said he’d just left work.  He was bringing himself and his wife to vote.

 

“This election is very different but I feel good about it,” he said.  “I feel better about Hillary than I do the other one.  Trump is very outspoken, too outspoken. He’ll literally say anything.  I don’t think he has any respect because he was born a rich man.  A rich man is not going to think like a lower level man.

 

The man and his wife feel Trump is distracting his followers by supporting Christian values.

 

“I feel the way he’s directing his followers is wrong,” he said.  “He’s distracting them by telling them he’s against abortion and he’s pro-life, completely avoiding the fact that he only wants to help people who have money.  That’s what it boils down to.”

 

Leaving the community center after him was a woman and her 5-year-old daughter.  She preferred to keep her identity anonymous as well.

 

“It’s been the most interesting election I’ve seen thus far,” she said.  “Very interesting.  I feel like these candidates, at least one of them is a bit opinionated and has a lot of views that I didn’t think, as an African American, I would have to be dealing with or listening to in 2016.  It’s nerve wrecking.  I’ve been fasting and praying.”

 

She was there a bit late.

 

“I’m here later because of work,” she said.  “I got off and had to come straight here after picking up my daughter.  Every vote counts whether people believe that or not.”

 

A 23-year-old and her step-son filed out of the building after the woman and her daughter.

 

“Yes, I’ve voted before but oh gosh, to be honest with you this whole election has been crazy.  All I can do is pray about it.”

She said that she believes political views could be kept private to preserve friendships and work relationships.

 

“As far as my coworkers, we don’t mention it at work,” she said.  “But as far as Facebook friends, that’s a different story.”

 

She said she’d witnessed people she knew saying some pretty surprising things.

 

“A lot of people have lost friendships from this election and even families have been separated because of this election,” she said.   “I’ve had Facebook friends say things that surprised me but I try to refrain from sharing my political views on there.  I just keep it to myself because I don’t need it to interfere with any relationship I have with friends.”

 

She too had just gotten off of work.

 

“I just got off work,” she said.  “A lot of people get off at 5 so we pushed the late end for the night.”

 

The last person to leave the building shared the same views as the others before him and said he too was so late getting to the poll because of work.

 

“Yeah, work pushed me back but it didn’t stop me from voting,” he said.

 

He was 67 years old and went on to share some of the things he’d witnessed in previous elections dating back to the 60’s.

 

“I’ve seen a lot of strange things,” he said, “but nothing comes close to what I’ve seen in this election.  I’d rather not share who I voted for but neither one of them can be trusted.  Trump runs his mouth too much and Hillary is just hiding something.”

 

He said that the way both candidates approached the election was unlike anything he’d ever seen, saying that the morals in the country were slowly dying.

“When I was a young boy, there was a sense of respect among lawmakers and politicians,” he said.  “We most definitely had respect for women, and bad mouthing them on national television and getting away with it was something that just wasn’t right.  You would see politicians slandering each other in sense, but by no means was it as severe as this year’s election.”

 

He said he prays the outcome of this election is in favor of American citizens, in all financial divisions.

 

“I’m not sure how it’s all going to pan out,” he said. “All Trump talks about is money and I don’t know if Hillary knows what going on half of the time.  We need a leader who is deeply rooted in God.  Someone who respects everyone and wants to see the country live up to the potential it has.”

 

He nodded, said goodbye, and slowly walked back to his old Chevrolet truck, revving the engine and heading home.

 

Mia Sims