Rebecca Branco received an urgent message from her daughter on Monday morning. She had only hours to act. And the American presidency could depend on it.
“My daughter said mom, have you registered to vote?” I say I don’t know,” the longtime resident and immigrant from Angola said outside the voting location in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
“She said mom, today is the last day. You have to go today.”
‘Should I do that?’ the mother asked. “She said yes, Mom, you have to go.” Within minutes, Branco had hopped into an Uber to make sure she was registered — and vote for Kamala Harris.
The employee of Dart Container, which makes food and beverage packaging materials, shared the urgent text message she received with DailyMail.com outside the Lancaster County Government Center. The note from the daughter, of “Sweetie,” reveals just some of the urgency on the battlefield in Pennsylvania, as voters plead with their own relatives to get their papers in order in a race where a narrow margin could decide the winner of the presidential election can determine.
Mothers rush to register sons. Mennonite and Amish farmers flock to the city center to cast their votes – some for the first time. And Trump supporters, excited by a late-night town hall, are putting away their guns at voting locations so they can vote for the leader they think will reduce inflation.
Early voting is already underway in Pennsylvania, a state that Joe Biden won four years ago with just one percent of the vote. Donald Trump won by even less in 2016.
Rebecca Branco hopped into an Uber after her daughter begged her to check her registration before Monday’s deadline
Cody Buffing registered to vote for the first time on Monday. The out-of-town student says he is “most likely” voting for Harris and has registered as a Democrat. It took his mother a lot of effort to get him signed up. “We tried to do it online. “It didn’t work, so we came here,” he said.
His mother Danielle, a chef who is organizing her family to vote, plans to take all four of her children to vote in person. ‘I don’t apply any pressure. I want him to vote. It matters.’
Her only regret about the current cycle: “I wish it had been a longer campaign. As if Joe Biden had stopped earlier. We would have had more time to get more information about her,” she said. “Because it seems like everyone is just starting to discover her.”
Not every student was so lucky. That’s what students at Franklin & Marshall College in the city say they were rejected – wrongly – by a local clerk who said their prior registration in other states prevented them from registering here.
Rebecca Branco jumped into an Uber when her daughter urged her to register
Excused absence: Cody Buffing registered to vote for the first time on Monday, the deadline. His mother Danielle plans to take all four children to vote on Election Day
Packing the heat: Student Dean Davis was impressed by the professionalism of police as he turned over and locked his firearm to cast his first vote for Donald Trump. “I don’t trust the city,” he says
‘He’s human. He is anointed and appointed by God. And you know, none of them are perfect,” said Sue Schnitzenbaumer (R), Pennsylvania voter and Trump supporter, with husband Pete
Donald Trump campaigned in Lancaster on Sunday evening
Polls show Pennsylvania is a mess, and the state is considered the most influential in deciding who will emerge victorious in the November election. There are 9 million registered voters in Pennsylvania, while Republicans have a 19 percent lead in Lancaster County.
The city of Lancaster is the blue dot in the center of the surrounding more rural communities that tend to vote Republican.
Trump defeated Biden 57 to 51 percent in the county here four years ago.
But as Pennsylvanians filed in to vote early, there were plenty of Trump supporters who drove in, despite the candidate’s occasional attacks on early voting and support for same-day voting.
Among them was Dean Davis, a student who has his doubts about cities in general — and who, when he showed up to vote, suddenly realized he was still carrying the firearm hidden under his sweatshirt.
He said the police officer at the polling place was professional after reporting the gun and putting it in a locker.
‘He goes, you can wear, man, you can wear whatever you want… Super cool, one on one. That’s great.’
“Personally, I will take this with me everywhere. People today, especially now… I don’t trust the city. I never did that. Whatever city it is. “I never go anywhere without this,” he said.
He says he voted for Trump for reasons related to inflation and illegal immigration.
‘With the current housing situation and inflation, I can’t afford anything.’
“During the Trump administration, I bought an old truck. It was just what I could get… but now I’m stuck with it. That thing is not easy to keep and maintain.
‘You hear all the stories about people being murdered and raped. For me here, I feel safe because I’m out of here. But I worry about that for my fellow countrymen.’ Still, Davis said that on a street full of art galleries and cafes, he has friends who are Democrats who embrace the urban lifestyle and don’t support Trump.
There was a steady stream of other Trump supporters at urban polling stations. Among them is Sue Schnitzenbaumer, who attended Trump’s event with Trump, where the former president, 78, said he was not “that close” to 80, messed up his interviewer’s name and misheard someone when he mentioned baseball player Stan from St. Louis said. Musical was in the audience.
She said she was supporting Trump for the third time for “what he stands for in life.” And what he stands for in politics. This is not a politician.’
‘He’s human. He is anointed and appointed by God. And you know, not one is perfect… He’s the real deal,” she said.
There is a push to register members of Lancaster County’s Amish and Mennonite communities, who tend to be conservative but have resisted voting rights for years.
“I’ve brought in quite a few just between Amish and Mennonite registrations,” said Ryan Sexton of Early Vote Action, a group behind the Amish for Trump campaign.
The Amish came out and voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. The fact that we only lost by 80,000 votes — in Pennsylvania alone there were about 80,000 to 90,000 Amish,” he said. “We decided this was an opportunity we wanted to take.”
