Election Day is less than a week away, and around 21% of all registered voters in California have already cast their ballots as of Tuesday, Oct. 29. Many people are utilizing voting centers and voting by mail, not waiting for the official election day, Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Now in its final sprint, the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump continues to be overwhelmingly contentious, focusing on battleground states. This campaign fueling division and hate has put the nation on edge.
Trump has increased his attacks on migrants as his principal target to win support. At his recent rally in Madison Garden, he referred to immigrants as “vicious and bloodthirsty criminals” and vowed to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” which he claims has been “invaded and conquered.” His recent lineup of speakers have followed his example spewing racist and vulgar remarks. Tony Hinchcliffe, known for crass “comedy” said that Latinos “love making babies” and called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Another speaker at the Trump rally used expletives unfit to print to describe immigrants and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
But whether or not the continuous barrage of blatantly racist insults will move the needle in the results of this presidential election is unknown. Political pundits have noted that such remarks could embolden and encourage those who feel the right to hate.
Local Residents Weigh In
Bear Sound always votes in elections, but said this election is “more important than the usual election … because we have one person that’s normal and one person that’s crazy.”
The Sylmar-based voter, who already dropped off his ballot, thinks some races could go either Democrat or Republican and that when people watch campaign ads on television, they should dig deeper than what they see on screen.
He supports Proposition 2, which would approve a $10 billion bond for school renovations – $8.5 billion to repair K-12 schools and $1.5 billion to improve community college campuses.
“I think it’s a good idea, even if it costs me a few bucks,” Sound remarked.
Sound believes that if Trump is reelected, the future of some of the amendments to the Constitution, including term limits for the president and women’s right to vote, could be threatened.
“There’s a chance that all of those things might be rolled back because of the balance on the Supreme Court … and Project 2025,” Sound said, referring to the political initiative to promote conservative and right-wing policies to reshape the federal government and consolidate power under Trump should he win.
On a final note, Sound said he would love to see the Electoral College – the process by which the president and vice president are elected – disappear and that the election should be held through a popular vote. It doesn’t make any sense to him that “very few people can affect the outcome.”
Jefferey Jessop of Sylmar voted for Harris because he dislikes Trump, saying he’s not the right answer for any government anywhere in the world.
“I think he’s done a lot of damage already and [there’s] a lot of hatred and that destroys our society. It doesn’t improve it,” Jessop said. “I want politicians that are going to go to Washington and do their job, negotiate and come out [for] what’s best for the majority of the people, whether they’re left or right, it doesn’t matter. It has to accommodate as many people as possible.”
He further went on to say that Trump is a threat to not just democracy, but to mankind as a whole. Jessop said the world needs personal freedoms, including access to abortion, and we need to move forward when it comes to protecting the planet since “we’re not going to send our great-grandchildren to Mars.”
Jessop added that Trump has caused more distrust in the media. While he thinks the media isn’t perfect, he would “rather have an investigative reporter out there doing their job and trying to present stuff in an unbiased light for people to … make up their own mind about … but his negativity about the media has destroyed all trust in everything.”
His children are all grown now, but Jessop said that education will always be an important issue, as well as the subject of climate change. He continued that there needs to be more trust in the government and the media, but also said that the government shouldn’t dictate how people go about their lives, as is the case with California banning the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035.
One Trump voter from Sylmar said he “hopes Kamala loses the election,” but did not want to be interviewed.
San Fernando resident Veronica Cervacio is a Republican who supports Trump due to several “big ticket” items – number one being the economy.
“I am a firm believer that the country needs to be run like a business and to do so, we need someone that knows business,” Cervacio said. “When he was in office before, I mean, the numbers speak for themselves, and everyone was thriving. [The] economy was great, so we need that again.”
The second item is the border, which she said needs to be closed and more security. Cervacio said a person can’t get into Dodger Stadium without an ID and ticket, so the country should be just as tight.
Her third item is the topic of abortion. Cervacio said she favored the overturning of Roe v. Wade and allowing each state to decide what they wanted to do.
“It’s giving the power back to the individual states versus making it a national thing,” she said.
Samantha Najemy from Sylmar said that with two toddlers at home, it’s hard to find the time to really watch or read the news.
Without the time to do a lot of research on this year’s election, Najemy said she only plans to vote on the topics she is informed about or are the most important to her, like the presidential race.
“Female reproductive rights are important to me,” said Najemy, who is concerned this election could threaten those rights.
Najemy is hopeful that election results will fall in her favor, even if she is “a little nervous about it.”
Though she hasn’t voted yet, she is thankful that vote-by-mail is an option for her busy schedule.
“I might just fill in [my ballot] and drop it off at this ballot box,” said Najemy.
A First Time Voter
Lex Jimenez, a San Fernando resident and student at Los Angeles Mission College is working towards an English degree and becoming a high school teacher. He recently turned 18 and will be voting for the first time.
For Jimenez, while he said he’ll be voting for Harris, he is focusing on local elections and helping to get out the vote for candidates he likes in his hometown. Five candidates are running for two open city council seats in the City of San Fernando.
“I am very excited about voting … because I’ve been following politics since the 2018 midterm election,” Jimenez said. “The local elections are important to me and I feel a vote can influence the local election far more than anything else. That is why I’m excited about this election.”
His current top choices are former City of San Fernando Mayor Sylvia Ballin and former California State Assemblymember Patty Lopez. He feels that Ballin, in particular, is the most qualified due to her experience on the City Council, serving from 2011 to 2022.
While the local race is something he’s looking forward to, Jimenez plans to not leave anything blank on his ballot. He plans to vote yes on Prop 6, which would remove a provision allowing jails and prisons to impose involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime.
Other issues that are important to him are homelessness, abortion rights, the economy and rent control. He’s in support of Prop. 33, which would expand the local government’s authority to enact rent control on residential property. Jimenez said that some form of rent control is important in the City of San Fernando, as some properties rent upwards of $2,000.
“I just see that as totally unreasonable,” Jimenez said. “Rent control is a big issue for me. I’m not talking about total government control of rent and what landlords can do, but to at least impose some limits so it’s not totally outlandish.”
Jimenez plans on voting early and said he’ll drop his ballot off in a drop box sometime this week.
This article was not biased. Focused on Trump’s recent Madison Garden Rally yet made no mention of the personal attacks Harris has also done calling out deplorables. What are Harris’ policies? We may never know. Her day one was 3 1/2 years ago.
Not seeing much journalistic integrity once again.