Mike Clogston had no problem advertising his presidential pick Tuesday morning.
He showed up to vote at Mayfair’s Abraham Lincoln High School in a black T-shirt featuring an image of Donald Trump in America Flag sunglasses flashing two middle fingers, above “You Missed,” a reference to the July assassination attempt that left the former president with a wound to his ear.
“We’re f—ed if he ain’t in,” Clogston, a 32-year-old construction worker, told Metro. “I think that we’re going in the wrong direction as a country, and it’s time to get on the right path.”
As he was inside casting his ballot, April Hammond was walking out of Lincoln and describing the atmosphere of Monday night’s rally for Vice President Kamala Harris on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to her 29-year-old son.
“She has our best interest at heart,” Hammond, 45, said. “Just as long as we don’t get Trump, I don’t care.”
Philadelphians trekked Tuesday to polling places throughout the city for in-person voting, weighing in on the presidential contest as well as a U.S. Senate race that could decide which party controls that chamber.
Harris and Trump, along with their surrogates, have been campaigning relentlessly throughout Pennsylvania in an attempt to capture the state’s 19 electoral votes. Commonwealth voters sided with Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden four years ago; both emerged victorious.
Voters also cast ballots in elections for Pennsylvania attorney general, auditor general and treasurer. Candidates were unopposed in nearly all of Philadelphia’s state legislative district, though two seats were contested in the Northeast.
Thousands of other people submitted mail-in ballots over the last several weeks. Election workers began counting those votes Tuesday morning at a warehouse on Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia.
No results were available when Metro went to print. Returns will begin being posted at electionreturns.pa.gov after polls close at 8 p.m. Go to metrophiladelphia.com for updates.
Polling hours were extended in Cambria County, in Western Pennsylvania, after issues with voting machines. No problems of that severity were reported in Philadelphia through Tuesday afternoon.
The Republican National Committee alleged that three court-appointed GOP poll workers were kicked out from a polling place in the city. They were eventually allowed to reenter the site, party officials said.
District Attorney Larry Krasner, during a morning news conference, told reporters he was aware of one, potentially different, incident at a site in Kingsessing where two election workers were asked to leave after recording serial numbers from behind voting booths.
He added that an assistant district attorney and detective responded, confirmed their credentials, and re-admitted them to the polling place.
ADA Matthew Stiegler, of the District Attorney’s Office Election Task Force, said authorities were also monitoring “reports of hidden camera filming of Philadelphia election workers” and “media reports of plans to film poll workers and voters.”
Detailed information about voter turnout was not immediately available Tuesday before polls closed, but weather was not a deterrent. Skies were clear, and temperatures reached the mid-70s.
First-time voters Alex Lorenz-Schol, 20, and Callie Carfango, 19, said they had no trouble casting their ballots at Albert M. Greenfield School in Center City.
“The animosity between both parties is palpable this year in my mind,” Lorenz-Schol said. “You can really feel it.”
“Especially talking to friends and family,” Carfango cut in. “I was worried to post my opinions out there because I didn’t want my family to say anything.”
Luis E. Colón-Rivera spent the day interpreting Spanish and Portuguese for voters at Frances E. Willard School in Kensington, but, during a slow period of the day, he made his way to Greenfield to cast his ballot.
Colon-Rivera, a social worker, said he signed up to help because he wants to make sure Hispanics, Brazilians and other minorities are able to have an impact.
“We need to be more represented,” he told Metro.
Concerns about the economy, particularly high prices and inflation, and abortion access were top of mind for voters Metro spoke with at multiple in-person voting locations.
Trump’s campaign has focused on bread-and-butter financial issues, though Dinah White, 64, who came to vote with a Michelle Obama-themed purse, called the GOP nominee a “threat to our economy.”
“Everything he touches, he destroys,” her husband, Lawrence White, 62, added, after voting at Xclusively Yours Events, a venue in Grays Ferry. “So we don’t want him touching our country.”
Meanwhile, Robert Romano, a 39-year-old auto mechanic from Mayfair, characterized Biden’s term as “disastrous” and said his vehicle and home insurance policy has tripled in the past four years.
“I’m hoping that it’s not rigged in any way,” Romano added, before saying he believes disproven fraud claims Trump spread in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
In contrast, Joshua Goodin, 37, said he trusts the electoral process and is confident his vote will be counted. He told Metro he is a consistent voter who has come to Xclusively Yours for years to cast his ballot.
“The people are friendly,” Goodin said. “There’s never any confusion or anything like that when you come here. So I think that makes it easier, when you come to vote and you get to engage with people who are not concerned about party lines, but are just concerned about people casting their votes.”
