By Anastasia Lennon and Mariana Sánchez
BU News Service
SAUGUS, Mass — Voters make their way into Belmonte Middle School in Saugus, Massachusetts, as part of the morning rush. With three ballot measures on the ticket, voters had power at the tips of their pens to alter the state of nursing, rewrite legislation on campaign funding and defend or deny the rights of transgender individuals. In 2016, AP reported that 51.3 percent of Saugus residents voted for Donald Trump in the presidential election, while 44.7 percent of them voted for Hillary Clinton. Two years later, this is where they stand.
President Trump was not running today, but he was in everyone’s minds at the polls. Many voters valued the 45th president administration’s performance to cast their vote. Here are their impressions.
Nick Ferragamo, 20, dishwasher and sales associate. Photo by Mariana Sanchez / BU News Service
Nick Ferragamo, 20, dishwasher and sales associate
Voted no on all ballot measures. Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
On Ballot Question 1: “ I think patients should get all the help they need whenever they need it, no matter what the circumstances.”
On Ballot Question 3: “I personally voted no because I just don’t want to grow up and have a daughter and then some guy can just waltz in the bathroom be like, ‘yeah, well, I’m a girl.’”
On Trump: “He’s gonna run the country like a business and that’s the way a country should be run. He’s been doing excellent. I mean, there’s been an increase in jobs and unemployment went down and just everything’s been going great. Economically we’re functioning a lot better and I feel like the country is really stepping up.”
On the media: “The media is the devil. How there was all this fake news and how everything spreads like somebody will say one thing and the media can just edit what they say to make it sound like they said something completely different.”
On immigration: “Well, if you want to come here illegally, you want to try to swarm our border to overpower our troops. One, you’re making a mistake, and two, just do it the right way… I’m not sure what the difficulty is. Like, I was born here ,I’m a citizen, so at the end of the day, I don’t know what it’s like to come from a foreign country and not legally be here, but I’m sure if everybody just tried to go through the regular citizenship process, everything could work out a lot better now.
Amanda Allen, 32, Occupational Therapy Assistant. Photo by Mariana Sanchez / BU News Service
Amanda Allen, 32, occupational therapy assistant
Voted yes on Ballot Questions 1 and 3.
On Ballot Question 3: “I have many family members and friends who would be greatly affected if it was changed.”
On Trump: “Last election was very disheartening. So many family and friends that it has truly affected from just the two years he’s been in office… It’s been a trying and terrifying couple of years. Here we are, two years into it and potentially repealing something that why, why, why do we need to make it so that other people’s human rights aren’t protected? What is the real reason behind this being changed? Because people are jerks, people are afraid of something they don’t understand.”
Richard Goldstein, retired, former salesman. Photo by Mariana Sanchez / BU News Service
Richard Goldstein, retired, former salesman
Voted no on Ballot Question 1. Voted yes on Ballot measure 3.
On Ballot Question 1: “I don’t think that the general population has enough knowledge to decide healthcare, what’s right and what’s wrong. And the people that are in the business are. Most nurses say no. And doctors, most of them say no. And the hospitals that I go to say no.”
On Baker: “I think he’s an upstanding guy and he doesn’t piss anybody off. The state’s doing well, I don’t see the national guard out, I don’t see him make any pronouncements that hurt anybody. I think he’s a good governor.”
On the state of America: “Its frightening, however, it’s frightening if left the way it is. People don’t go out because they are motivated, they do things because they are irritated and I think that he has irritated enough people that people who usually wouldn’t care are gonna go out and vote and the tide is gonna turn.”
On Immigration: “No more hate, no more picking on people because of where they’re from. Stop lying, stop telling us that we’re being invaded by these poor countries. They’re human beings, they’re people, they should never be treated as less than citizens.”
Marlene March, retired. Photo by Mariana Sanchez / BU News Service
Marlene March, retired.
Voted yes on Question 3.
On Question 3: “I have a daughter that’s gay so that’ll tell you what I voted for.”
On Baker: “I’d like to see Trump get out of office. But I did vote for Charlie Baker. I don’t know, I just like him even though he’s a Republican. I’m a Democrat but I think a lot of Democrats like Charlie Baker.”
On immigration: “I don’t think you should come here and come on welfare. I’m not on welfare. I work. You know what I mean. But I don’t like what he does because he’s crazy. No separating kids and he uses it like they’re all criminals that are coming, the two-year-olds and the-three-year-olds.
[…] This article was previously published in Boston University News Service. […]