VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: DIA PACKAGE
Luke Backman: Early in the morning at the Bellevue Heights United Methodist Church, voters have turned out to cast their vote in the 2024 presidential election.
Voters are coming for a number of reasons whether that be because of policy, the candidates or in a specific case, the opportunity to elect the first woman as president.
Cindy Long: I’d be thrilled if a woman, if she was the first woman president. I’d be thrilled if any woman was the first woman president and I’d be so curious how that changes the feel of the administration.
LB: As people continue to come here and cast their vote, one thing we’ll continue to see is polling workers stop by this polling station and others and make sure everything is up to date and following the rules.
Raymond Dague: What my role today is to make sure the election is fair and people are allowed to cast their votes for who they want and there isn’t anyone kind of bending the rules
LB: As Republican attorney poll watchers like Raymond Dague will continue to make sure polling stations are following the rules. Voters will come and go, casting their vote for the next president of the United States.
At Bellevue Heights United Methodist Church for Democracy In Action, I’m Luke Backman
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — As voters were streaming in and out of the Bellevue Heights United Methodist Church in Syracuse, Raymond Dague was making sure they weren’t bothered. Dague, who is a Republican attorneys and poll watcher, noticed that the marker which prevents any campaigning inside the boundary, looked a little short.
After asking around, Dague grabbed his measuring tape and found that it was only 60 feet, opposed to the 100 feet away that it should be. He went inside and alerted the poll watchers for the location and asked if he could set it to the right distance.
While many people might believe this is a small thing, for Dague, he believes it is one of the ways that can help people be at ease when making a stressful decision like who to vote for.
It’s a decision that Cindy Long came to the polls ready to make. Knowing which candidate she was voting for, Long was excited about the prospect of the first woman president being elected. Long said that she has been voting in every election since she was 18.
This election is expected to be one of the most competitive with every single vote going to matter. Luckily at Bellevue Heights United Methodist Church, they are doing everything in their power to make sure they deliver a safe and comforting election.