Posted Tuesday, November 4 at 12:24 pm CT by Bill Dedman
Filed under Bronx
Validus Prep student Ahmed Hunt, 18, discusses how it felt to vote in this election. (John Makely / msnbc.com)
"It feels good," 18-year-old Ahmed Hunt said after casting his first ballot.
A senior at Validus Preparatory Academy, a public school in the Bronx, Hunt had played Sen. Barack Obama in the school program this year. He said he voted for Obama.
"Everyone should vote," Hunt said. "It feels good to feel like I can make a change."
(See other posts from the Bronx.)
Posted Tuesday, November 4 at 12:11 pm CT by msnbc.com
Filed under Field correspondents
LOS ANGELES – It was before dawn as a crowd of African-American voters began lining up outside the auditorium of Audubon Middle School in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles. There was no doubt about how they'd cast their ballots.
"If you're voting for McCain, you're in the wrong line," joked one man.
Continued…
Posted Tuesday, November 4 at 11:56 am CT by Bill Dedman
Filed under Bronx
"We Got Issues" is a T-shirt created by students at Validus Preparatory Academy in the Bronx, where this year's theme was "the new face of American politics."
Why did the school, with an overwhelmingly minority population, focus so much attention on the election?
"I think young people in general, regardless of race, are really excited about this election," says Principal Brady Smith. "But I do know that there's a power in seeing someone who looks like you in an authority position. So for many of our students to see Barack Obama, who has such a life story, in many ways our students have life stories that parallel his. That kind of connection, you can't manufacture. So I know students that are way more engaged because of that."
Click here for a larger view of the T-shirt.
(Image courtesy of Validus Preparatory Academy)
Continued…
Posted Tuesday, November 4 at 11:47 am CT by msnbc.com
Filed under Field correspondents
In 2004 I voted for president in my neighborhood of Harlem, N.Y., one of the nation’s oldest and most significant centers of African-American culture. I arrived at the polling location midmorning, strolled right in and voted. The whole thing took about five minutes. There was no line. There were no crowds.
Tuesday morning I arrived at the same polling station a few minutes after it opened at 6 a.m. The place was packed. Every step had to be followed with an "excuse me." Several people had cameras, and were taking pictures. I heard one woman say "this is history". Another woman held her young daughter in her arms and kept smiling and kissing her on the cheek, as if she was happy the little girl was witnessing the day. It was a remarkable contrast from four years ago and evidence of the voter excitement on this historic Election Day.
Continued…
Posted Tuesday, November 4 at 11:31 am CT by Kari Huus
Filed under Nashville
Nashville resident Tammy Baker is anticipating a long night of watching election returns. (Jim Seida / msnbc.com)
For Tammy Baker, Election Day is all about multitasking. She’s putting in a full -- and stressful -- day at her job as an account manager with a health care company in central Nashville, but she ill have one ear on her radio at the same time and be checking her favorite Internet sites for the latest political and voting news throughout the day.
Before even arriving at work, Baker was on the phone comparing notes with friends and family members. A friend in Louisville, Ky. told her that voters at one polling station there were told to come back later because the voting machines were down.
Continued…
Posted Tuesday, November 4 at 11:11 am CT by msnbc.com
Filed under Field correspondents
The 16th Street Baptist Church, designated a national landmark, is seen February 20, 2006 in Birmingham, Alabama. Gonzales was in Birmingham to take part in the dedecation of the 16th Street Batptist Church as a national landmark. (Photo by Gary Tramontina/Getty Images)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – More than 45 years ago, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., was the site of one of the most horrific attacks in the civil rights movement.
On Sept. 15, 1963, Ku Klux Klan members hid 19 sticks of dynamite underneath the church stairs. The explosion killed four young girls, whose only crime was the color of their skin.
Continued…
Posted Tuesday, November 4 at 11:01 am CT by Bill Dedman
Filed under Bronx
People were lined up early at the polling station at Public School 55 in the Bronx.
"I've never seen it like this," said pollworker Lenore Gardner. "When I got here at 20 after 5, they were already out there waiting." The polls opened at 6 a.m.
"The mothers are bringing in their sons," she said. "The girls, the come on their own. But the sons the mothers bring."
(See other posts from the Bronx.)
Posted Tuesday, November 4 at 05:00 am CT by Bill Dedman
Filed under Bronx
Validus Preparatory student Jaquan Arzu (John Makely / msnbc.com)
Tuesday is going to be a frustrating day for many students of all races, because they aren't old enough to vote.
"People around the world, they know what Nov. 4th is. In Russia they know what Nov. 4th is. I feel, dang, I can't vote in the biggest election that there is," said Jaquan Arzu, 16., a student at Validus Prep, a public school in the Bronx.
Arzu has been participating in months of school activities about the election, reading about the candidates, attending debate nights at New York University. And Tuesday? It's just a day off from school.
Continued…
Posted Tuesday, November 4 at 12:29 am CT by Kari Huus
Filed under Nashville
Matt Nemeth works the phones in Tennessee Victory Headquarters. (Jim Seida / msnbc.com)
On the evening before the historic 2008 elections, in an unmarked office on a strip populated with check cashing stores and discount liquor stores in the western reaches of the city, three volunteers were still working the phones on behalf of the McCain-Palin ticket and state and local Republicans.
This modest looking three-room operation, dubbed the Tennessee Victory Headquarters, is an odd outpost with a complex political mission. As a coordinating center for Tennessee counties, much of the energy expended here is spent calling outside the Nashville/Davidson County area, and even outside the state on behalf of Republican candidates.
Continued…
Posted Monday, November 3 at 08:21 pm CT by Mike Stuckey
Filed under Seattle
Bruce Gentry spent 20 years building skyscrapers in downtown Seattle. (John Brecher / msnbc.com)
History seems a foregone conclusion in the Emerald City.
On a cold, dark, damp election eve around Seattle’s downtown Pioneer Square, a handful of sidewalk interviews found little doubt that Sen. Barack Obama would become America’s first black president.
“The Republicans are done,” said a jovial Danny Hawkins, 51, a Seattle barber. “They’ve had their share.”
Continued…
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