Voters

I interviewed voters at 17 polling places on election day, from Magnolia Springs and Fairhope to Prichard and Mobile. At most locations, lines stretched for blocks, rounded corners and circled parking lots.

People read books, played games with children in strollers and talked about roofs that still need repairing and insurance checks that haven't come. Some took a day off from work or came home from college to vote for the first time. 

In Baldwin County, Trump 2020 was shoepolished on a back windshield, a bumper sticker said Trumplican and a T-shirt read "Don't California my Alabama."

In Baldwin and Mobile counties, people helped strangers in wheelchairs. Groups gave out free snacks and water at some polling places.

There were those who had their reasons for voting for Trump:

Jennifer: "I am the mother of four. The triplets turned 8 today. I homeschool them, and they are watching me vote. I support freedom, independence and pro-Israel. My biggest issue is pro-life, but I am also excited about the opportunity of school choice. I told my kids we are coming here for a couple of hours with a happy heart. Then we are going for doughnuts."

Rick: "I lost my leg due to injuries from being in the Marines. But I would sign up today and do it all over again. I love this country and our people and still serve wherever I can. I voted for Trump for stability. Our country represents a lot of things, and when this breaks down, it has a domino effect that affects the world. Do you realize how many people died for all of the rights we are throwing around? If we let the government take this and that, one day our freedom will be gone. It's not freedom being told by the government what to do. I voted for our country to be strong. We are here to serve each other."

Paula: "Under the past administration, I quit working my IT job because I don't see the point in working so hard to give away so much of my money. I should be able to choose who I want it to benefit, instead of having the government deciding where my money goes. I felt like the harder I worked, the more money I made, and the more money I had to give away. What kind of life is that? We are better off under Trump to keep the freedom of safety and security."

Sam: "I am 18 and this is my first time to vote. I voted for Trump because he's not selfish. He has so much money that he donates it. Biden wants to defund the police and calls black kids not smart enough. Equality is an important issue to me. Black colleges should be funded more. People say Trump supporters are racists, but my friends are all colors, and I want what is best for them. Our class went to Washington D.C. in our senior year and got to meet Trump. He is the best fit for our country right now. He caught the Coronavirus and he wants to help others have the same treatment he received."

And there were voters who had their reasons for voting for Biden:

Ernesta: "The divisiveness and separating us being black and white has to stop. I can get along with anyone. We gave Trump four years, and we can give Biden four years. If he doesn't do any better, then we can vote him out.  I just want peace. We have to come to grips in this country and be one. I don't want this bickering anymore. Biden speaks of America as a whole and not in black and white."

Judy: "We need change. We have to learn how to get along again. Pray our leaders do what they are supposed to do. Losing family and friends to COVID was bad enough, and now all of this going on is too much. If he (Trump) wins, I am going to pray that he does better than he did the last four years because it has been hard for us."

Joanie: "Everybody should be equal. I'm not satisfied with the way things are running. Everybody is divided instead of together. The party in charge is the one that made this happen and is allowing this to continue. I don't think the leader we have is speaking out for us. It is always about him. COVID has been hard on us, and he has done nothing about it. I had two family members who died from it. Instead of being true to the party, be true to the Bible and what it says. Do what the Lord said: Love one another. Love Him and love one another. If you love one another, you're going to help each other, no matter who it is."

Erica Miller lives in Baldwin County. She trained horses and worked with polo players much of her career. Then she made $1,500 a week cleaning condos last year. After the quarantine, it dropped to $500 a week. She said money got tight, but the stimulus check helped, and work picked up. Now she makes $200 in a good week. She’s looking for more work but said this is a hard time for people in the service industry. 

“A lot of us in this community don't have college degrees," she said. "When things get tight, the service industry suffers. People cut their own grass. They don’t need us to clean their houses or condos. I judge the economy by the polo world because those are some of your top bracket, wealthy people who do that sport. They have money and don’t mind spending it. 

"Under the Obama administration, they started getting tight with their money, and it got hard for us," she said.  "They hired illegals because they were able to house them and pay them less. The jobs picked back up when Trump came into office."

The Millers live paycheck to paycheck with no savings, and she said, "people like us don’t have anything to fall back on if the government shuts the country down." 

The couple put virtually all they make into their mortgage. It will be paid off by retirement, and Miller doesn't want to sell what they have worked hard for most of their lives. 

"You have to let us work," she said. "I know we have Coronavirus, and we need to think about everyone else, and I do. But at the same time, families like us are down to one loaf of bread and a package of sandwich meat. The power bill and the car note are due."

Miller said if Trump wins, she knows from what has been proven that she and her family will have good jobs. If Biden wins, she doesn't know what they will do. 

"Thankfully we’re good at camping."

Millers' mother taught her when it came to voting, nobody is the perfect candidate. Pick that one thing that’s most important to you and vote for that. 

"For years it was abortion,” she said. "But this year, I don’t know if we have money for milk this week."

Miller said she learned things from the wealthy while working in polo, and there are some things she taught them. 

"They’re not bad people, but when you live in a certain bracket, you forget what it’s like to worry about milk money on Friday," she said. "Each of us needs to see the whole circle, not half the circle, and realize that there are people around you worried that they can’t afford food this week.”

Andre Bend, a sales manager at an auto dealership in Mobile, voted for Biden also out of worry and fear. He said the economy and pandemic have hurt sales, and it’s been a hard year letting people go. 

"I voted for change," he said. "With the COVID-19 pandemic, social injustice and killing unarmed black men, I feel like the country is going in a bad direction."

Bend said he grew up in the 1980s and '90s "when we were starting to get along." 

"Jobs were around no matter who was in the seat, Republican or Democrat," he said. "This is the most divisive the country's been in my lifetime. I have never seen so much tension and hatred toward other people."

Bend served in the Army for 11 years and said he had "battle buddies of all colors." He said it seems like the country should be like them and wanting the best for each other.  

Instead, America has "been put on edge," he said. "It's crazy right now. The division and pitting one party against another has got to go."

Bend's girlfriend, Tarani Todd explained her vote.  

"It feels like we're in modern-day slavery because some people have gone back to their old beliefs of saying what they feel or being able to shoot us and get away with it  There's no leader strictly saying, 'No, this is still wrong.' We need to be moving forward as a group of people not reversing in time.”

Bend said that Blacks growing up in the South are going to witness some kind of tension and racial bias, "but the last four years have been worse."

"It was even better when George Bush was in office because it felt like there was some acceptance," he said. "I will be honest, I kind of liked Bush. Some of his policies looked like he was trying to move the forward country forward. I loved some of President Obama's policies, and some of them I didn't like. But at the end of the day, both sides could have intelligent conversations about what Bush and Obama were doing. I loved those open conversations and learning from each other over a cup of coffee."

Bend said he can't have conversations today about politics and religion because of emotions and division. 

"Just saying Trump lied about something starts an outrage, even if you have the proof," he said. "I am aware that I am a Black man, and discussion can escalate, and the police are called. It doesn't matter that I am a veteran and college-educated. Because I am an adult Black man, I could end up in the newspaper, in jail or shot and killed. I fear for my son. He is an intellectual, outspoken 12-year-old who says what he thinks. I am trying to teach him when to stay quiet."

Bend said he is military-trained but, "I am more fearful of people now than I have ever been."  

2020 has been an election of fear -  fear of Trump destroying our country, fear of Biden destroying our country, fear of losing all that we have, fear of being left behind, fear of Coronavirus, fear of hurricanes.

And, unfortunately, it’s about our fear of each other.