VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
PARKER: “A trip to the polls usually means casting a quick ballot, but for Liza Acquah, stepping out to vote always comes with an immediate call home.”
ACQUAH: “She called me and said, before she could say anything, I said, ‘I’m here Mom, I just voted.”
PARKER: “Inside St. Joseph’s Parish Center, casting a vote turned into a statement — one carried across generations.”
ACQUAH: “I remember back when one election when I had four of my kids, we all voted at one time. So, it’s really important. My mother has always been an advocate of us having our rights to vote.”
PARKER: “That right comes with serious responsibility. Across the gym, neighbors check in, scan their ballots and make their voice count. It’s a process Acquah believes no one should take for granted because for her, staying silent was never an option.”
ACQUAH: “Voting is very essential and important. And if you — if you don’t vote, things don’t change. You know, how can you — how can you want thing to happen if you’re not putting your vote in?”
PARKER: “Outside of St. Joseph’s, she made sure to leave her own message.”
ACQUAH: “I really encourage everyone to come to the polls and vote today.”
PARKER: “Her ballot cast, and her voice heard — carrying a mother’s lesson from decades ago right through the doors of St. Joseph’s Parish Center. Reporting in Camillus, Owen Parker, NCC News.”
CAMILLUS, N.Y. (NCC News) — Before her mother in Long Island could even finish greeting her over the phone on Tuesday morning, Liza Acquah cut straight to the news.
“She called me, and before she could say anything, I said, ‘I’m here, Mom. I just voted,'” Acquah said.
For Acquah, casting a ballot inside the St. Joseph’s Parish Center in Camillus is part of a tradition spanning state lines and generations. Though she moved to the area five years ago, her dedication to voting began decades earlier under her mother’s guidance in New Jersey. Her mother treated Election Day as an essential day — one Acquah made sure to pass along to her own family.
“I remember back one election when I had four of my kids, we all voted at one time,” Acquah said. “My mother has always been an advocate of us having our rights to vote.”
For Acquah, showing up carries a meaning far bigger than politics: it’s a direct community responsibility.
“Voting is very essential and important. And if you don’t vote, then things don’t change,” Acquah said. “How can you want things to happen if you’re not putting your vote in? I really encourage everyone to come to the polls and vote today.”
With her ballot submitted and her message sent, Acquah walked back to her car wearing an “I Voted” sticker with pride, ready to call home again next November.