Residents Reflect On Voting, Presidential Election

Nov. 5--Anise Marcum giggled as she stared at her computer during a short break on Wednesday morning inside Indiana University Kokomo's cafeteria.

The day before, the 19-year-old business management major and her father stood in a voting line for more than three hours in her hometown of Frankton.

After all, voting is a responsibility, Marcum said, a lesson in civic duty passed down from her parents.

Yesterday was her first time casting a vote too, she noted, but it won't be her last.

And now, like millions of other Americans, Marcum said she's just waiting to see what happens, especially in the presidential race between Republican nominee President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Vice President Joe Biden.

"It's stressful, just waiting for the results," Marcum noted. "... I'm not big into politics, but I'm on Twitter a lot, so all my feed is just all about the election right now. ... The uncertainty kind of makes me nervous because I generally like to know what's going on."

Across the table, fellow classmate and 18-year-old Cass County resident Bailey Young nodded in agreement.

Young, like Marcum, is also a first-time voter, opting to cast an early ballot last week.

And also like Marcum, Young has felt the stress of this election cycle.

"With work and school, it's been kind of hard to stay on track of everything, so I'm probably not as involved with it as I probably should be," Young said, "but my opinion on the craziness is it's just really difficult to be upset with anything right now because of the circumstances. We're doing all that we can do. It's just kind of something we have to deal with right now, but it is definitely stressful."

Young added that social media and television media can add to that stress, an opinion that fellow IU Kokomo freshman Jessica Baran also shared.

"I've been following along a little bit, but from the non-biased media networks," she said, "which there really isn't any. And I've also signed up for the updates. ... But I feel like as a college student, they kind of take away our rights to say anything because they then just say, 'Oh, you're in school, you shouldn't have an opinion on that topic. Oh, you're not out there enough. You don't know how the real world works.

"But we're in college," Baran continued. "We're obviously in the real world. ... And there are more people voting our age than senior citizens because we want to make a change. ... So don't treat us like we're idiots. Listen to us because we are young and are going to be living with the decisions that we make now. So listen to us because we are the future."

And the desire to be heard in this year's election cycle isn't just coming from college students.

Kokomo resident Caden Cline, 26, peered across the playground Tuesday afternoon, his eyes following his son up a nearby slide.

With a smile creeping across his face at the sight, Cline then took a few minutes to reflect on the type of world he wants his children to grow up in and how the 2020 General Election might impact it.

"I did vote, and I'll even tell you who I voted for," he quipped. "... I voted for Trump. And I think what's going on right now with the election, it seems very skewed with a lot of the mail-in votes, and those numbers coming in, how they're coming in much later than expected and differently than what usually happens in an election.

"None of this messes with my psyche as a voter, but I do know, and it's my opinion, if Biden does win, we'll have lots of issues on our hands," Cline added. "I think our community, we're very Republican from what I can see, and we might see some changes happen that we won't necessarily agree with."

Changes in areas like the economy, Cline added.

"We have a stable economy within our community here [due to Trump]," he said. "I work for Chrysler, so I think it's a big part in keeping up with my bills and making sure we make payments on everything. Having three kids and working at a corporation where we do manufacturing, I think it's very important, and I feel like Trump has brought a lot of manufacturing back to this community from places like Mexico and China."

But regardless whoever takes the Oath of Office next January, Cline noted that elections are always special because they allow the public to have a firm say in their democracy.

And whether it's Trump or Biden, Cline added that he hopes Americans can come together in unison.

"I think everyone should go out and do their duty and vote for who they think is the best candidate," he said. "Everyone should go out and voice their opinion. And whether we think the right person won or not, I think as a community and just as Americans, we need to learn to get along. Red or blue, Trump or Biden, we all have to figure this out together."

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