November 5th, 2024

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Jamyra Perry

Yawu Miller

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Voters lined up early outside of the Cathedral High gymnasium in the South End Credit: Yawu Miller

Election day voting begins in Boston

By Yawu Miller

Voters in Boston turned out strong this morning, some driven by hope that Kamala Harris would be the first Black woman elected president, others by anxiety that Donald Trump could return to the White House, bringing his divisive politics back to Washington.

Ward 12 Democratic Committee member Victoria Williams chatted with other voters at the entrance to the Higginson School gymnasium, where four Roxbury precincts cast their Ballots.

“I’m anxious, nervous. Praying on it,” Williams said. “Somebody who talks about everybody and their mother, insults people and is a convicted criminal? Who wants that?”

Joao DePina, a florist and former Ward 12 Democratic Committee member, said he does.

“I’m voting Republican across the board,” Depina said.

“Even for Trump?” he was asked.

“I don’t believe in everything Trump says, but as a business owner, I don’t trust Kamala at all,” DePina responded.

While Trump will almost certainly lose in Democrat-controlled Massachusetts, where voters haven’t backed a Republican presidential candidate in 40 years, Trump won 32% of the vote in the state during the 2016 and 2020 elections.

But GOP totals in Ward 12, which includes predominantly Black and Latino precincts in Roxbury, never crack 10%. In 2020, Trump garnered just 6% of the vote.

Even the certainty that Kamala Harris will receive all 11 of the state’s Electoral College votes was of little comfort to Anthony Brewer, earlier this year elected 2nd Suffolk District Democratic State Committee man. Chatting with DePina and Williams, Brewer said he is hoping for a Harris victory.

“I’m praying that the people are interested in something new,” he said. “None of the hatred, the chaos and the divisive rhetoric we saw prior to 2020, and that people don’t forget January 6. That’s something you just don’t do. That was an act of treason against the country.”

At the Cathedral High gymnasium, where four South End precincts vote, Anthony Skeen said he hopes voters make history today.

“We don’t need Donald Trump in office,” he said. “He caused a whole lot of trouble in this country. If Vice President Harris wins, she’s going to make history, being the first woman and the first woman of color. It will make history for the United States of America.”