Voters at voting booths

Voters at voting booths during Election Day at Christ the King Presbyterian Church on Nov. 5.

 Jenna Burress/OU Daily

As Americans flocked to polling places across the country today, Norman voters cast their ballots in a historic presidential election. 

Throughout the city, neighbors stood next to each other in lines, waiting to receive their ballots and pens. Teenagers and young adults excitedly lined up to collect their ballots and place their votes for the first time. Some residents brought their children, hoping to introduce the next generation to the democratic process. 

OU Daily aimed to stop at every polling place in Norman throughout the day to talk to voters about why they headed to the polls. Locations marked red in the map indicate polling sites OU Daily visited. Click on the map below to hear more from the voters of Norman. 

Paradigm Baptist Church: Darlene Owen, an 83-year-old retired medical technologist, voted today in support of the U.S. border and women’s rights, but said the federal government should not interfere with states’ decisions on women’s rights issues.

Owen said that while she is passionate about women's rights, she thinks the issue of abortion should be left to the states. She said it’s less of a women’s rights conversation and more of a state issue. 

“Actually, I don’t think it’s so much women’s rights. This is where I kind of differ with Kamala Harris, because it’s not women’s rights, it’s the state’s rights,” Owen said. “But I’m sorry, politics should never be in a woman’s body.”

Owen believes that if women’s rights are to be up for debate, it should be left for the states to decide. 

“Our state voted on the abortion rights and all that kind of stuff,” Owen said. “The federal government has no right (to have a) say in there … because we’re the United States, not a dictatorship.”

Owen said it’s important to exercise your right to vote in this election in particular because of the relevance of certain issues in America today, and she doesn’t want to hear complaints from people who chose to sit this one out.

“If you don’t vote, you don’t have a right to complain,” Owen said. “And if you do vote, then you got the right.”

 

Cobblestone Creek Club House: Christa Gatewood, a 51-year-old physical therapist, said participating in Tuesday’s election is necessary to create change in legislation, both locally and nationally. 

“This election is important because it's the future of what we've known, what I've known for years and years and years, and I think we're slowly, (in) my personal opinion, having our rights, especially as a woman, taken away that we've had in the past,” Gatewood said. 

The urgency of this election is for the future generations of America, and the country the people wish to see, Gatewood said. Gatewood’s main motivation in this election is her three daughters and 20-year-old son.

“Because I have three daughters, I want to make sure that they have the same options and choices that I myself had, but now they don't. (I’m) just making sure that they're safe, that their health care is just as vitally important, and as women, we have just as much voice in what happens to us. So putting the right people in office to help that become fruitful, I feel like is important,” Gatewood said. 

Gatewood said her 20-year-old son had decided not to vote in this historic election, due to dislike of both candidates. She said to her son, and other young voters, that by choosing not to vote, they are choosing not to have their voice heard and not fulfilling their duty as U.S. citizens. Gatewood hopes to see a less divisive country in the future.

Gatewood said voting is her civic duty as an American and it is the only way that her voice can be heard in the grand scheme of the government. 

“I believe that our total democracy, our ability to rule ourselves as people, ‘We the People,’ is at stake and if we allow people in office that do not care about ‘We the People’ to push through certain legislation, then we are not any longer ‘We the People,’” Gatewood said.

Life Spring Church: Sheri Bolton, a 66-year-old retiree, has lived in Norman for 29 years and voted in every election since she turned 18 in 1976. Bolton said voting is a part of the “God-given” right to freedom.

“It’s just so special to me that we’re able as Americans to have a right to do this, I’m emotional,” Bolton said with tears in her eyes. “It’s our freedom. I mean, my dad fought for our country, and I think it’s important that we do things like this.” 

Bolton said she is voting for women’s rights this year, and the freedom of voting allows people to choose what to do in their lives.

PHOTOS: 2024 Election Day coverage across Norman

From Gaylord News in Washington, D.C.

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