Poll Site Workers in Syracuse Express why Voting is Important

Kennedy Houston: Some polling workers throughout Syracuse have expressed what voting means to them. Polling site manager tom burgess says voting should be respected.

Tom Burgess: Well voting is a privilege. I happen to believe it’s a duty, but I know not everyone agrees. Uh but it is certainly a privilege that many people don’t have in other parts of the world.

Houston: While voting is a right it also gives voters a say. Poll worker Carolyn Paddock says elections give voters a voice.

Carolyn Paddock: Means it’s the only way I get to well to actually write down what I think to give uh gives me a say.

Houston: Burgess says working at the polls is a position of trust.

Burgess: I’ve been at this same site for over a decade. And uh I get to know the voters; they get to know me uh they look for me uh and uh familiar faces and I’m able to answer a lot of their questions and uh that’s what motivates me. I’m a people person I like to serve people.

Houston: Some voters were equally excited about the election as poll workers. Voter Samantha Connors says voting affects us all.

Samantha Connors: I feel like our rights as females, as minorities, were are in jeopardy, and we have to come out united and stand up for our rights.

Houston: It is apparent that voting still matters. At multiple polling locations, polling workers are reporting that hundreds of people have arrived to cast their vote. Specifically, at the Elmcrest Children’s Center roughly four-hundred people have come today. In Syracuse, Kennedy Houston, Democracy in Action.