‘Nervous’ voters cast their ballots
JACKSON, Wyo. — Election Day arrived in Teton County with new snow flurries and some feelings of tension. Team Buckrail spoke with voters at Teton County Library, the Teton County/Jackson Recreation Center and the Old Wilson Schoolhouse about what brought them out to the polls on Tuesday.
Numerous voters who spoke to Buckrail as they departed the Wilson polling place described their Election Day mood as "nervous" or "anxious," but many agreed that the local atmosphere surrounding the election felt tamer than the nationwide climate. Most voters who were willing to answer questions said their primary focus was the presidential race.
"I think 2020 was hellacious and I don't want a repeat, [but here in Teton County], it's been mellow, it's been good," Wilson resident Anne-Marie Thompson said. "I hope it's been a little more bipartisan than other parts of the country. I don't sense any animosity or anger."
Over at the library, voter Elizabeth Cheroutes echoed that sentiment.
"I don't know if the county represents the divisiveness in the country," she said. "I've always felt like our community does a better job of parsing through the issues and working together."
Cheroutes was one of multiple voters who told Buckrail that the issue of women's health motivated their vote.
"In particular this year, as a woman who has fought my entire life for reproductive rights, to have that be a threat, for my daughter and her friends, that's what really brought me out today," she said.
Wilson resident Jill Oja-Johnson expressed similar views.
"I want us to keep our rights as women and I'm just hoping to God that we can say that we have the first female president," she said. "If Trump gets back in there, I don't know that we are going to make it. I'm concerned about climate change, especially living here because we live here for the winter. I was telling my son today, that it's possible that if he gets back in and he doesn't care about the climate, maybe we're not going to be skiing one day."
But not everyone who spoke to Buckrail expressed support for the Kamala Harris/Tim Walz ticket. A voter at the library, who asked to be kept anonymous, explained her vote.
"I've been a Republican my whole life and that's how I voted today," she said. "I think the last four years are really telling as for what hasn't happened to this country, so I voted for Donald Trump."
Mike Zimmer, a lifelong Jacksonite voting at the Rec Center, told Buckrail this was the first election in which he has voted.
"I never really found it effective before," he said. "On the ground level, the reality of what I see at the grocery store, gas pumps and inflation in any store around here really ... I'm just sick of it."
Wilson resident Kevin Perry said he's concerned about the depth of disagreement he sees nationwide.
"It's scary that we're divided this much," he said. "When you have a 50/50 split as a country, you just don't get anything done...In this town, it's almost like you don't even talk about it. It's a little blue dot in a red state."
An election judge at the Rec Center, who identified herself as Debbie, said voter turnout had been steady.
"I've done elections for close to 20 years, and I think this year is a bigger year than previous years," she said. "We don't have a line right now, but this morning we had a line all the way to the lobby."
