Election Day: Pennsylvania Station

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Commuters rush through Penn Station on Election morning. Photo: Ashwaq Masoodi

The early morning rush at Pennsylvania Station revealed a varied mix of people – some who had already voted, others who would vote later in the day and a few who just didn’t care.

Jonathan Flowers, a 38-year-old Brooklyn resident and New York University scientist, 38, voted by absentee ballot, as he knew he would be spending November 6 knocking on doors in Philadelphia for President Obama. “Everyone knows Obama has a massive database of Democrats there. I just want to make sure people go to the polling stations.” Flowers volunteered the same way in Ohio in the 2008 election.

To beat the long line of voters, Fezella Kahn, 40, went to her New Jersey neighborhood polling station early, before heading out to work.

Earl Smith wasn’t as lucky. He left home in Brooklyn around 6 a.m. but seeing the queue of voters, Smith decided to vote on his way back home.

Young Yoo, 48, a resident of Long Island, said he wasn’t going to vote. “I don’t care who the President is…nothing is going to change.”

“I probably won’t vote. I don’t endorse either of them,” said 64-year-old Harriet, also from Long Island, who did not give her last name. “Romney will be good for the rich, but he will take away my Social Security. Obama tried, he didn’t do anything special but he relates to the average American.”

Amidst the election frenzy sweeping the country, there were some who just missed it.

One 60-year-old commuter, who declined to share her name, said the election slipped her mind while relocating from Pennsylvania to Manhattan. “I saw the presidential debates after I got here and realized it’s an election year. I feel so awful,” she said. She also missed the deadline for the absentee ballot in Pennsylvania, where she is registered to vote.

For a region still reeling from Hurricane Sandy, the natural disaster, if anything, seems to have “strengthened Obama’s position” according to one commuter. “It was cold and I didn’t have power but I’m still voting Obama,” said Angelique Bellamy.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2012 at 5:47 pm. It is filed under Midtown West, Street Buzz, Uncategorized and tagged with , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.