Ren Pridgeon has been working and volunteering in various capacities with elections in Raleigh, North Carolina for 48 years. (Photo: Clayton Henkel)
Arriving at John Chavis Community Center, Ren Pridgeon is one of the first faces you see. A Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association volunteer, he beams when tells you he has been poll-greeting in Raleigh for 48 years.
“I worked my first election when I was 22-years-old and I just turned 70 last month. I’m still doing it,” Pridgeon told NC Newsline.
Pridgeon has held many roles over many election cycles in Wake County including serving as a chief judge at his precinct, but on this day he was serving as an observer and encouraging people to exercise their right to vote.
“It’s a privilege to be able to do this. I’ve seen a lot of things going on in my years, and a lot of people went through a lot of stuff so that we can be out here, so that we can vote,” Pridgeon explained.
“People like me, when I vote it’s for my kids, my grandkids because there’s so many things that are on the ballot this time – reducing lunches, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, affordable housing. All those things are coming to play.”
Pridgeon said he’d like to see more young adults in line this Election Day exercising their right to make their voice and their choice known.
Pridgeon, an unaffiliated, pro-life minister, was sporting a “Kamala” t-shirt and hat this Tuesday afternoon.
“I don’t vote party. I vote best candidate. And I see her as being the best candidate. I don’t like the negativity that’s being thrown into the race. I really don’t like the name calling. I don’t like any of that,” he shared.
At 70-years-old, he said he was also moved this election by the issue of reproductive rights.
“Because I can only think about my 16-year-old granddaughter. If she was molested or raped, then she should have and her parents should have a choice on whether not to continue or terminate,” he said. “I also know that circumstances dictate actions. And because of certain circumstances and women should have the right to the actions that they choose.”
Pridgeon says experience has taught him we may not know the winner of the presidential contest this evening.
“I’ve seen so many the presidential elections. And they used to be quick, but it’s so many different parameters now, especially, especially with the mail-in ballots. And what happened in in western North Carolina [with Hurricane Helene] that’s going to delay some counts.”
But Pridgeon said he is hopeful, always hopeful about democracy. And with any luck, Pridgeon will be back working the polls again in 2026.
“I’m trying to make two more years, so then I have 50 [years]. Then we pray about it.”
The polls close this evening at 7:30 pm. Eligible voters can find their Election Day polling location on the state Board of Elections’ Voter Search page. Voters who asked for an absentee ballot, but didn’t mail it in, should deliver it in person to their county board of elections office before 7:30 this evening, or simply throw it away and go vote in person at their local precinct.