BALTIMORE – In Northeast Baltimore, hundreds of people showed up early to the polls. More than 300 people voted before 2 p.m.
James Benton Jr. says he remembers his parents and grandparents fighting for voting rights. He says it’s vital that people exercise the right to vote to honor those who couldn’t.
“It is so important, whoever you come to vote for. When your conscience tells you what should be done based on what we are used to, and what we have seen and what has been broadcast, then you know what You should do. But you have to come out and vote, that’s the most important thing,” Benton said.
He also says he is proud that so many young people are voting in these elections.
People like Jasmine Shannon, who voted for the first time.
“This is a really big one, not only because it’s my first time, but we actually have a black woman running for president and that’s really big,” Shannon said.
She says this vote is historic, and even though she has been registered to vote since 2022, she says this election has opened her eyes to the importance of her vote and how important it is to know what questions are on the ballot.
“Actually learning to understand everything and even today, like learning to understand how voting really works and actually getting behind one of those tents today, like it was very interesting, but definitely an experience that I’m glad I had the opportunity to have ,” Shannon expressed.
That’s something Tiffany Richardson emphasized to her friends.
“I think they really need to start talking about the questions more because of the wording and the length of it. Some people don’t get involved and just check everything,” Richardson said.
Outside of the presidential election, Question F on the ballot in Baltimore City is very important to voters.
If people vote yes on Question F, MCB Real Estate could move forward with its plans to redevelop the Inner Harbor, a project Benton says he is in favor of.
“I think it’s important because a lot of people have left, because a lot of people have left, so that place is just going to be vacant. You can’t just leave it like that. They have to do something to upgrade Baltimore.” City,” Benson said.
But no matter how people vote, every voter knows how important it is to be involved in these elections.
“We got some of our friends who didn’t vote today, and we got them out, they took our energy and we made them feel like it was okay, yes, we got to do it, we got to do it. We have to do it, not just for the presidential election, we have to do it for our state,” said Olivia Williams.