Voters cast ballots at the Lutheran Church of Hope near Drake University. (Photo by Mackenzie Swenson for Iowa Capital Dispatch)
First-time poll worker Jill Foreman said the “fun part” of her job is observing the “melting pot” of voters who cast their ballots at Lutheran Church of Hope at the corner of the Drake University campus.
“The melting pot of people in this community is just glorious — different ethnicities, seniors, young families, obviously students, teachers, and our future voters,” Foreman said just before ushering a curious day care group through the polling doors.
Voters who spoke to the Iowa Capital Dispatch also represented diverse viewpoints and voting experience. Drake student Matthew Bell was voting in his first presidential election, and he chose to do so here in Iowa rather than his native Illinois.
“As a student at Drake in a smaller city in a state with a smaller population, my vote would potentially carry a little more weight, you could say, compared to voting back home in Chicago,” Bell said.
Foreman said the “dynamic” of the Church of Hope precinct is distinguished by many first-time voters — voters like Leslie Howard, who made his first trip to the polls later in life due to the encouragement of his significant other. Howard, who cast his vote for Kamala Harris, expressed concern about Trump’s age and mental acuity.
“I just feel that Kamala is right. I’m not voting for her because she’s a Black woman,” Howard said.
Nick Friedrichsen has voted numerous times but is “disgusted” with the state of U.S. politics, prompting him to write himself in for president.
“Neither [Trump nor Harris] are working in my mind, and I’m not voting Libertarian, I’m not voting grassroots, and I’m not voting communist, so I wrote myself in,” Friedrichsen said.
Friedrichsen, who said his top issue is the economy, has previously voted for independent candidates like Ross Perot, a businessman and philanthropist who garnered 19% of the electorate during his first independent run for president in 1992.
“I don’t think I’ve had a choice since I started voting. The lesser of two evils is still evil,” Friedrichsen said.
Teacher Liz Jordan said she voted primarily for Democratic candidates to protect women’s rights and the rights of marginalized people, such as the LGBTQ+ community and people of color.
“A lot of the kids I work with are kids of color. Maybe their families struggle with food insecurity or their families come from outside of the country, possibly not having documentation as kids, and they don’t have any control over that, so I think that impacts my vote a lot,” Jordan said.