HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Esther Fifelski, the City of Holland’s human/international relations director, joined dozens of other workers at Holland City Hall making sure the 2020 election moved along as seamlessly as possible. She spent part of the last hour that the polls were open helping last-minute arrivals get registers to vote or apply for absentee ballots. She handed out clipboards equipped with a pen and the necessary paperwork.
Overall, pollng places in the city seemd to move smoothly along, with lines only intermittently forming.
WHTC visited all six polling site, from the Holland Civic Center Place to the Boys & Girls Club, asking people why they chose in-person voting. Most people did not want to share last names:
Sherri, a mom of six, stood outside the Boys & Girls Club, with two of her daughters. She told WHTC she votes “no matter what” and wanted her daughters to see the voting process. She called Tuesday the “most important election I’ve ever voted in.”
Regardless of which candidate wins the presidency, she said, the results of this election “will change the world.”
Further ahead of her in the line of 20 or so stood a man named Howie, wearing a cap with the slogan “Taxation is Theft” with a young boy by his side. Howie said he votes in most elections, and wanted to cast a ballot for Libertarians to show his displeasure with the two-party system.
Jacklyn, standing outside First Reformed Church where she voted, said voting is a privilege and it’s important to get to the polls.
Kristi voted at Holland Heights CRC and also said it’s a privilege to cast a ballot. She said she votes in every election — and on Tuesday, she worked at a different polling place before voting herself. She had nothing but praise for those who arrived to cast ballot in person.
“Everybody’s been very kind — great manners and pleasant to everybody,” she told WHTC. “It’s been great to see.”
Standing in line outside Holland City Hall just after 7 p.m., Solomon, 30, and Allyzia, 28, chatted amiably while waiting in line.
Solomon, the father of two, said his mom told him it was his duty to vote, and he wanted to set an example for his two young children.
Allyzia said Tuesday was the most important election of her lifetime and she wanted to be able to tell her own daughter, now 3, “that I cared enough to vote.”
Evelyn, 18, said she didn’t think she could register without a state ID, but a group at her college explained that she could use her school ID and other legal documents as proof of identity, which she grabbed Tuesday before running to City Hall.
“I do think it’s really important for young people to vote,” she said. “They tend to not vote as much.”
Scottie, 31, came to City Hall to register to vote after making a move from Grand Rapids to Holland. He voted 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2018.
Voting, he said, gives one “a sense of power, a sense of democracy and a sense of a voice.”
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