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Makenzie Webber: "No Trump."
Tyrone White: "He's got what it takes to run this country."
The wait is on, for Election Day Registration.
Makenzie Webber waited and waited and waited — for two and a half hours — to same-day register and then vote for Kamala Harris. Tyrone White eyed that same long line at City Hall and decided to leave early before casting his ballot for Donald Trump.
Webber and White were two of well over 100 voters lined up on the second floor of City Hall Tuesday morning for Election Day Registration (EDR), whereby New Haveners new to voting in New Haven can update their address or register for the first time on Election Day itself.
The snapshot of Webber’s and White’s experiences at the polls — with one enduring a lengthy line to vote, and another leaving early — comes as Democrats hope that women voters will lift Harris to victory, as Trump seeks to win over more and more men to the Republican ticket.
The line at City Hall snaked all the way around the second floor and doubled back on itself, as voters waited patiently to update their registrations and cast their ballots.
Webber succeeded in voting for the Democratic presidential candidate by around 11 a.m., after waiting in line for two and a half hours.
She said she moved from California to New Haven last year for a photography equipment retail job, and because one of her best friends goes to Yale.
Why did she decide to vote for Harris on Tuesday? “No Trump,” she replied. “I’m gay. I’m a woman.” She doesn’t see Trump standing for who she is or what she believes in. Plus, she said, “I would like to see Roe v. Wade come back.” She voted in part to support women’s reproductive rights.
Webber said she’s admired Harris as a politician as she rose the ranks from San Francisco DA to Attorney General to U.S. Senate in California. She also thinks highly of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has endorsed Harris.
White, meanwhile, told this reporter he planned on casting his first ever ballot in any election for Trump.
“He’s a good guy. I just like him cause he’s fair,” White said. “He’s got what it takes to run this country.”
White, 60, arrived at the EDR line soon before 11 a.m. He pledged to wait it out so he could register and vote for Trump. But, within a few minutes, as this reporter interviewed another person in line, White left his spot and walked away.
Meanwhile, behind White, Dagny Stewart stayed in line, waiting to register so she could vote for Harris.
“Healthcare, for sure,” Stewart said when listing the reasons why she was backing Harris instead of Trump. While she is concerned about wars overseas — “Gaza’s up front for me,” she said — she feels like a Harris administration is more likely than a Trump administration to find a peaceful end to such conflicts.
