Voters share personal motivations to cast their ballot

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (DIA) – For Danny Adams, voting is not only a civic responsibility but an homage to the people who fought for his right to do so. Growing up during the 1960s, he knows just what people went through so that he’d be able to cast a ballot, and he’s made an effort to get to the polls since he was 18.

“The fact that it took so many people to die, for people to get the right to vote, whether you’re a woman, you had to fight for the right to vote, you’re a person of color, you had to fight for the right to vote, other different groups throughout history have had to fight for the right to vote,” Adams said. “So you owe it to all of those peoples whose shoulders you stand on to get out and vote.”

Adams is one of many who have already gone out to the polls. Voters in New York have a ballot containing national Congressional seats, as well as state and local offices.

Carol Fedrizzi came out to vote with her father within the first few hours of the polls being open. Though current political issues like women’s rights and student loan debt particularly motivated her to vote this November, she said it’s been a lifelong habit of hers to vote in each election.

“My parents instilled in us really, really early the importance of voting in every election, no matter if it’s local or statewide, countrywide,” Fedrizzi said. “I’ve always come out to vote, ever since I was 18. That was the first time I voted.”

When she was young, Fedrizzi would even go to the polls to watch people cast their votes. Her childhood best friend’s mother was a poll worker and would bring them along on Election Day. Fedrizzi still remembers what that was like to watch, especially the doughnuts and voting stickers they had at the polling centers. Watching the voting process play out helped reinforce everything her parents taught her.

Though voters shared similar reasons for coming out to the polls early in the morning, like getting ahead of crowds later in the day or casting a ballot before going into work, they each had their own reason as to why casting that ballot was so important to them. While some had lifelong traditions of voting, others felt a gravity to this year’s election.

“This is I think the most important election I’ve ever voted in,” Neville Gruenberg said. “I’m concerned about our country. The direction we’re going seems like good versus evil.”