Standing in line at the Student Center with Columbia Votes, first-year music major Anastasia Wynecoop feels nervous about voting for the first time.

“I feel a lot of pressure, but I also feel like I’m kind of putting in the work to be who I am,” Wynecoop said. “I’m just very happy to be privileged enough to vote.”

For Wynecoop, reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights are some of the most important topics in today’s election.

Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump’s campaign focused on political ads for transgender rights issues in the tail end of his campaign, spending more than $19 million on two television ads playing on battleground states. The Trump campaign aired ads featuring people in drag and trans athletes, with one commercial concluding, “Kamala Harris is for they/them. Donald Trump is for you.” The Chronicle previously reported on trans rights being a main issue for students depending on today’s outcome.  

LGBTQ+ rights is a voting factor for 38% of Americans and 30% state that they will vote for a candidate who aligns with their beliefs. 

Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. Walz signed the “trans refuge” law which allowed Minnesota–his home state–to safeguard the privacy of patients seeking gender-affirming care and clinicians providing it. 

“It’s very important that me and my friends and my family, we all have the opportunity to choose what we want in life,” Wynecoop said.

Sophomore photography major, Antonio Lucero expressed his mixed emotions for the election.

“I’m kind of nervous, because I don’t really know what the outcome is going to be,” Lucero said. “But, I would say I’m more excited than scared, because life’s still gonna go on, but you know, things might change,” Lucero said.

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Michelle Otaluka and Kate Tilghman, both from the West Loop, were walking down the street away from a polling location near Skinner Park with their ‘I Voted’ stickers proudly displayed on their jackets. Campaign signs sat on the grass all along the way to the polling location. 

Tilghman said that it is the first time voting in Illinois for both of them and they were happy to vote today, despite the cloudy skies. 

However, both are apprehensive about the results of the election. “Proud to cast my ballot, nervous for what the outcome will be but I can only control my own vote, and so I’m glad that I did that today,” said Tilghman. 

Further north, in a long line outside of the Uptown Branch Chicago Public Library, Greg Smith waits to vote thinking he probably won’t add much to the total in Illinois. However, he has spent this election season reaching out to people in swing states, where the real difference is made. 

A final New York Times/Siena College poll shows Harris and Trump in a statistical tie in Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania. But the results in all seven states are within the margin of sampling error, which means neither candidate has a clear lead in any of them.

“So my vote here might not swing the state, but that’s why I reached out to all my family in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Because one or two votes in every precinct does matter,” said Smith.

There are currently seven battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Nevada. According to the New York Times, Michigan and Wisconsin are leaning towards Harris while Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nevada are towards Trump as of today. 

Otaluka comments that she’s a little on edge. “It’s closer than I would like it to be, but I know the American people are gonna pull through, or at least I hope they do.”

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Albert Gutierrez stands outside Living Water Community Church in Rogers Park after just having voted. He explains how he had his neighbors—who had taken advantage of early voting—watch his two young daughters as he made the trip out to vote himself. Gutierrez says that the main reason he went through the trouble of voting was “for the sake of his two daughters, and the state of the world in which they’ll have to grow up in.”

Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris’ approach to family and economic policy centers on caregivers. She has proposed to expand the child tax credit from $2,000 to as much as $3,600. She also aims to implement a new tax credit offering up to $6,000 for middle and low-income families, this would be available for the first year of a child’s life.

Republican candidate and ex President Donald Trump has not addressed child care. 

Ciara Flores Hutton, formally from Evanston, voted in Rogers Park as a 23-year-old voter. She states that her biggest fear regarding this year’s election is the possibility of having “someone in power who believes that people of color, minorities, people from other countries have less value than others.” 

Hutton described the importance of younger voter turnout, saying younger voters’ opinions matter just as much as anyone else’s. “I’m mainly worried my rights will be taken away from me as someone with a uterus and who is Black and Mexican. I’m worried that I will be discriminated against more frequently.” 

Trump has a history of making racist remarks towards Latinos especially those of Mexican descent. In 2015, he claimed that Mexico was sending people who were bringing drugs, criminals and rapists stating, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best.” 

Trump has gained support from 40% of registered Latino voters, nearly doubling his share from the 2020 election when it was 27% according to a NBC News poll.

While usually closed until Noon on Tuesdays, the Rudy Lorenzo branch of the Chicago Public Library was open from 7 a.m. on Election Day. This polling center is known for not having long lines but for Mirabel Rios, a 10-15 minute wait is longer than what she has seen in past years. “I wasn’t going to vote, but I had to, I have to.” Despite not liking either candidate, Rios took to the polls to emphasize her concerns over immigration, “What’s gonna happen to us? I mean, I’m a citizen, but still.”

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There are three different polling locations at Jones College Prep Public School for the different precincts. Before entering, people like Paula Mcquad, an associate professor at DePaul University for 25 years, were passing out flyers for Angel Gutierrez, a candidate for Chicago School Board District 8.

She hoped to engage people to vote and get their voice heard. Additionally, lines to vote had gone down according to Mcquad, noting that they had been longer when the polls opened at 6 a.m., similar to lines at the New Lenox Park District.

On the first floor, lines stretched throughout the building and the wait time was about 35 minutes. Junior photography major Will Light waited in line to vote as they were worried about the outcome if they did not do so. 

“I’m currently voting because I am very scared of the current state of our country,” Light said. “I am very terrified and I feel like this is our only chance.” 

The Chicago Board of Elections has enlisted 8,100 election judges for this election, including more than 2,000 high school students and over 300 college students serving in the role. 

Another student, Lee Overton who is a film and television major, also waited in the line at Jones College Prep. 

“I think it’s important that no matter whose side you’re on or what you believe is best to run the country, that you use your voice,” Overton said. “Use your voice because by law we have the human right to voice our opinion as a democracy and I think that’s important not only [for] people in general, but college [students] especially.” 

Ages 18-24 account for 49,097 ballots casted as of today at noon according to the Chicago Board of Elections. There has been a total of 729,075 ballots casted in Chicago, including early voting and processed vote by mail. 

Illinois, a historically blue state, has 19 electoral votes and has voted for the Democratic nominee in the past two elections. 

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As the New Lenox Park District opened its polls at 6 a.m., a steady flow of people began to line up. 

According to the Will County Clerk, there were 8,599 early voters recorded in the Village of New Lenox as of Monday, Nov. 4.

Several homeowners posted Trump signs and flags on their property. In the 2020 election, Trump held a significant lead over Biden in every precinct in the southwest suburb of Chicago.

Barbara Cruise is a New Lenox resident and former election judge. Cruise said she was especially pleased to see the youth in our country get more involved in politics. She emphasized the importance of voting as “it allows citizens to exercise freedoms we’re all entitled to.”

There are around eight million new youth potential voters with a total of 41 million Generation Z who are eligible to vote for this Presidential Election. Gen Z have been recorded to be a leading force in social movements compared to other generations. Nearly half of these voters are young people of color. 

Lenesser Johnson also expressed how important this election was for her. “To have Trump again; it’s a scary thought for a woman, and an even scarier thought for a Black woman.” She said that it’s hard to remain positive when “it feels like we’re fighting for our lives.”

Long time New Lenox resident Bob Fazzini said that he has never missed voting in an election. “I don’t like the way the world is right now,” he said. “The way I grew up compared to the way that everything is now… to me, it’s chaos.”

In Elgin, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Nancy Hernandez voted Tuesday morning at Hilltop Elementary School. She said she doesn’t know a lot about politics but felt motivated to vote because of her access to reproductive healthcare. 

“It’s my body and I’m 20, so I don’t want a child right now. I don’t want to have to be worried about that,” she said. 

Close to 32% of U.S. voters say they’ll only support candidates who align with their views on abortion with 45% highlighting abortion as one of the several key voting issues. 

Around 20 people waited in line at school, with wait times nearing an hour long on Nov. 5. Some voters left out of frustration while volunteers encouraged those in line to take the time to research candidates. 

Dan Guluszek from Elgin said that although his voting experience was stressful, he was glad to head to the polls. He waited in line at three different polling places before he was told to go to Hilltop Elementary School, where he was registered, and waited another hour before casting his vote around 10:30 a.m. 

“You hope you have some sort of say or power to make your life better, but you aren’t sure because you’re just one person,” he said. “But being one person only takes one person to make a difference.”

Robert Tucker from Northbrook, which is northwest of Chicago, spent the day outside the Cole Park voting poll in nearby Glenview, encouraging people to vote for what he called “the most important election of our lifetime.”

“Everybody needs to come out, make their feelings known,” Tucker said. “Whether it’s Republican or Democrat, they need to do their homework, make sure they understand what they’re voting for, and get their vote cast.” 

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Johnny Thames, a senior film and television major and resident of 30 East on campus, said he voted early this past weekend.

Thames said he supports Democrat and Vice President Kamala Harris. “I’m honestly just hoping Harris wins,” he said. However, he also added, “I don’t entirely agree with her take on Gaza,” referring to her speech at the Democratic National Convention in which she stated that 

“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself.” 

From his 30 East apartment, junior game design major Evan Rosato said that he wanted to vote but forgot to get his mail-in ballot from Massachusetts. He was a bit anxious about the election because “no matter the turnout, there’s going to be a lot of backlash.”

Massachusetts has been a reliable blue state since 1976 that Harris is expected to win. 

At the Student Center, which was quiet in the morning, first-year radio major and transfer student Micel Romero said he had already voted. “It was just a matter of getting to a proper polling place that was doing early voting,” he said. “With finishing up school and stuff, my head was all over the place.”

Romero knew that this election was an important one, so he made sure to get his vote in. “Mainly because I don’t think we want, to put it bluntly, four more years of hell.” Despite this, Romero was optimistic. “You know, all ends well. No one is without their flaws, but we hope that not only the people, but the swing states and the electoral college do the right thing.”

Classes were not held today to motivate students to head to the polls and boost student civic participation. The day off was lobbied by Columbia Votes, an on-campus student voter engagement group, the Chronicle previously reported. 

Senior Justin Freund, a social media and digital strategy major, worked out at the Student Center on Tuesday morning. “I don’t have class. I’m gonna just keep an eye on the election,” he said. “I feel like a lot of people just realized that this election is a lot more important than the prior ones, especially for younger people who are growing up now. I feel like it’s not like how it was 10 to 20 years ago.” 

Freund had already voted. “I feel like the more people who vocalize their vote, especially our generation, it will give better insight on people’s opinions.” Overall, this entire election has taken a toll on Freund. “It honestly kind of stressed me out. But I feel like I can think brighter after today, hopefully, on a better future.”

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Voters lined up in the Conaway Center at the 1104 S. Wabash building that houses the School of Film and Television. 

The polling site is one of nearly 1,000 polling locations across the city. It is the only one on campus. But some students who live in on-campus housing also vote at the nearby Jones College Prep high school at 700 S. State St.

Voters can still register to vote on Election Day in Illinois, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections. 

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