The race for the U.S. Senate seat in Missouri seemed to be the most important race on the ballot after speaking with several area residents in Poplar Bluff during Tuesday’s election.
“Voting is pretty important — you can tell by the mess we're in now,” said John Stewart, 68, of Ward Four. “I guess the senate race is the most important to me.”
Barbara Allen, 84, also of Ward Four, said, “It is really important right now. There are so many things that are changing in our country.”
When Allen was asked which race she thought was the most important on the ballot to her, she replied, “All of them. All of the races are equally important. Our country has got to change.... we’re in a real mess.”
Pierce Gromer, 63 and his wife, Darelene, 76, showed up at the polls this morning in Ward Four to cast their ballot.
“We have a choice. If we don’t vote we won’t know,” said Pierce Gromer.
“We choose who we think will do the best job,” said Darlene Gromer.
The pair agreed that the U.S. Senate race was the most important race on the ballot for them both.
Van Rhodes, 59, of Ward Two had a few things to say about this year’s ballot and the reason he feels that voting is an important responsibility.
“We should vote because our constitution tells us so,” Rhodes said. “That is the way our country is based ... it’s a democracy, everyone has a voice and all those voices should be counted.
“That is the way our forefathers set it up so we could have freedom of speech, freedom of expression. We had some local races here that I think were important. This clerk position is important. They’re the ones that are in charge, they count our votes, they certify those votes and as we have seen in the past, this can be a problem and we don’t need that problem here in the United States, we want them to be counted accurately ... that’s why we're here to vote.”
Shawn Berry, 48, of Ward Two said, “I always try to vote on every issue possible, even though sometimes it seems like the elections are pretty clear-cut before you even arrive, I still like to be involved and participate.”
While Berry stated that the Senate race was of importance, he felt that the local race for county clerk was as well, “we have a local race that has three qualified individuals and I wanted to be sure to vote.”
He said he found the Senate race to be pretty interesting.
“There are so many candidates it is hard to get a good read on who’s out there,” Berry said. “That was my primary reason for coming to vote today.”
Katherine Richmond, 77, said that everyone should take the opportunity to vote because, “If we want to complain we have to do something about it.”
Her husband Verl Richmond echoed her sentiments, saying, “I am sick of our political system — it just ain’t working right.”
Herman Styles, a voter of Ward Two, was greeting voters as they arrived at the Kay Porter location Tuesday.
“It all comes down to who’s in the positions we need,” said Styles. “Everything is important, the local stuff affects us every day, but having a strong candidate for all these positions is important.”