Race to the Polls

The 2018 Midterm Elections took place on November 6. The polls were open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. One of the locations available to citizens in Janesville was at the Rock County Job Center at 1900 Center Ave. in Janesville.

Some important issues that voters focused on during the election were healthcare, Supreme Court appointees, the economy, women’s rights, immigration, and the impeachment of President Trump. Another issue was whether the Republicans or Democrats would control the Senate and the House.

For Wisconsin residents, an important issue was the race for governor. Scott Walker was governor for seven years. He was being challenged by Tony Evers.

Voters of all ages came to vote at the Rock County Job Center on Tuesday. When the polls opened, the majority of the voters were middle-aged residents. Ward seven had the most residents waiting in line to vote. All the lines moved very quickly and the voting process did not take any longer than about 15 minutes.

In the afternoon, the majority of the residents from the ages of 60 to 80 came to vote. It was common to see many retirees.

John and Carol Lathrop are a retired couple that came to vote to face issued that worried them. John, 81, is a retiree from General Motors and Carol, 80, is a retiree from Parker Pen. They always vote in every election.

The main reason they were voting was because they did not want their taxes raised. They like how the stock market is doing because they said their 401k is doing well. “The economy is great and we want to keep it that way,” said Lathrop.

Rollis Davis is a 70 year old retiree from Hufcor Manufacturing that volunteered at the polls. Davis always votes and this election he voted because he was worried about his health care. He assisted other voters when they submitted their ballots. The device they used was the M100 Optical Scan Ballot Counter.

Later in the afternoon it was popular to see young voters at the polls. There was a surprising amount of young voters that came out to vote for this year’s elections.

Catie Gage, a senior at Janesville Parker High School went to the polls to vote because she was excited to have a say in government. “I think the race for governor was really important. We have had the same governor for seven years, so I think it is important to see if the citizens of Wisconsin approve of what he has done during his time in office and re-elect him, or decide it is time for a change,” said Gage.

Some key issues that Gage cared about and paid attention to when choosing who to vote for were education, immigrant, and women’s rights. She believes that her vote and that every vote matters. “Democracy crumbles if people choose not to participate,” said Gage.

The majority of the volunteers at the polls were women from ages of 40 to 60. Most of the volunteers have worked the polls before. Some high school students also volunteered such as Carlos Miguel, a senior at Janesville Parker High School. He took his turn volunteering at the polls for his U.S. government class.

Grant Miller is a senior studying business at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater and was very passionate about the midterm elections. He believes the most important race is the race for governor. He has voted regularly in the past because he believes every election is important. “I voted because of my desire to see it prosper for all American citizens,” said Miller, “and for lower taxes and for a better economy.”

The mid-term elections overall had a huge turnout from voters of all ages. The voters came to vote for all different reasons.