{"id":45483,"date":"2016-11-08T10:08:16","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T16:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=45483"},"modified":"2016-11-08T10:08:16","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T16:08:16","slug":"in-elmwood-park-early-voters-are-eager-to-see-the-election-season-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/in-elmwood-park-early-voters-are-eager-to-see-the-election-season-end\/","title":{"rendered":"In Elmwood Park early voters are eager to see the election season end"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Jordan<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the Elmwood Park Village Hall early voters were eager to get this election over with.<\/p>\n

The line was short and most voters were done in about 15 minutes in one of the last days of early voting. And when the election judges thought back to last year\u2019s early voting period, they said there didn\u2019t seem to be an uptick this year.<\/p>\n

Amid the talk about a flood of early voters causing \u00a0long lines across the U.S., Elmwood Park is not one of these places.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just not that much excitement about the election, said residents in the working class Chicago suburb. Many say they exhausted with the election and want to move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople here are not that enthusiastic, even if they are worried about things like the Supreme Court,\u201d said Donna Roehri, secretary of the Leyden Township Republican Organization.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Leyden Township, which comprises Elmwood Park and nine other villages, is slightly more Republican than the suburban Cook County average, but registered Democrats still dominate nearly two to one. Among Republicans there reportedly has\u00a0been\u00a0strong support for \u00a0Donald Trump, although some residents were \u00a0hesitant to admit this.<\/p>\n

In Elmwood Park, where the median income is about one-fifth below the median income for Cook County, some voters were more concerned about personal issues such as the earned sick time referendum on the state-wide ballot.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It was] one of the more important things on the ballot,\u201d said Jessica Grull\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Megan Toohey said she was more concerned about gun control and taxes. She wouldn\u2019t say who she voted for, but said she arrived at the polling place with no doubts.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mind was made up after the third debate,\u201d said Toohey. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t much point to waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voters on both sides of the political spectrum in Elmwood Park observed that there has been a lot less casual discussion of politics this year. Yard signs were few and far between, and even when people were willing to discuss the issues important to them, some declined to say who they voted for at the top of the ballot.<\/p>\n

But not Sam Fowler. He voted early for Trump, saying he knew the real estate mogul was his candidate well before the primary. He made sure to register in time before to vote in the presidential primary in March. \u201dBefore that I haven\u2019t voted in God knows how long,\u201d added Fowler.<\/p>\n

He believes that Trump will provide economic security to people like himself. Although he has found a stable job he pointed to his close friend who graduated from the same program with a higher GPA but has struggled to find work in IT. He is attracted to Trump\u2019s protectionist policies, repeating the Republican candidate\u2019s talking point on bringing jobs back to America. Despite some of Trump\u2019s more controversial statements and scandals, he still supports the candidate.<\/p>\n

Janet Lindeman has been dismayed this election season about Trump\u2019s comments on women.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pained that we are having these discussions in 2016,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She normally supports Democratic politicians, although during the Republican primaries there were some candidates who she \u201cdid not mind.\u201d But to her, Trump\u2019s candidacy has been a frightening experience. Lindeman worries about the vitriol of this election, and how so many people have been so violently opposed to both candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis election is just so polarizing, I do not bring it up,\u201d said Lindeman.<\/p>\n

And yet despite the vitriol of the election that upset many, voters were still eager to participate in the process.<\/p>\n

Grull\u00f3n was there with her husband Ram\u00f3n and their 9-year-old daughter Nevaeh, who was allowed to fill out part of the ballot in the voting booth. Nevaeh was more excited than her mother at the prospect of seeing a woman president. The parents, still wearing their Cubs gear three days after the World Series win, were eager to encourage their daughter\u2019s excitement with the civic process.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to see history every week now,\u201d said Ram\u00f3n. \u201cFirst the Cubs, then Hillary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: An early voter getting the task out of the way after a long and contentious campaign.(Guy King\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Jordan At the Elmwood Park Village Hall early voters were eager to get this election over with. The line was short and most voters were done in about 15 minutes in one of the last days of early voting. 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