Voters cast their ballots on Nov. 5, 2024 at First Christian Church in Perry, Ia. (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Iowa Capital Dispatch reporters are out talking to voters at polling places around the state.
PERRY — Penny Strough wore warm boots to her polling place at First Christian Church in Perry Tuesday, prepared to wait outside in the early morning drizzle to cast her vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
Strough’s family was in her thoughts as she voted, she said, with children who support former president Donald Trump and a niece who will most likely vote for him despite trying to conceive with in vitro fertilization.
She said the issues she cares about most in this election are women’s rights and reproductive freedoms, and she can’t understand why her family won’t change their mind about Trump, who she called a “sexual predator.”
“I can’t go back to the way it was, and I pray that it doesn’t happen,” Strough said.
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While Strough is feeling anxious on Election Day, she said she’s hopeful that Harris will clinch the win.
“I think it’s probably going to be more of a surprise than people think,” Strough said.
William Stork also had his family in mind when casting his vote for Trump. Stork said his greatest concern was about immigration, and how his school-age grandchildren are impacted by it. He also “can’t stand” inflation, he said.
“There are strangers coming into their classroom that can’t speak English, so the teachers have to speak down to them, or get an interpreter or something like that, and it takes away from their education,” Stork said.
He said he’s feeling optimistic about the election, and he expects that Trump will at least win Iowa, “without a doubt.”
“They say it’s close, but I don’t think it’s that close,” Stork said. “I think it’s going to be a runaway, myself.”
Ryan Jackson, 29, said it should be “readily apparent” why he voted for Harris, though some people would disagree. It was hard for him to pick just one issue that brought him to the polls, and he said he’s glad his part is over, though he’ll be watching to see what the outcome is just like everyone else.
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