Carmen Lampe Zeitler and John Zeitler honored a late friend who was very politically active, carrying buttons that read “Josh Sent Me” to their polling place in Des Moines. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
DES MOINES — Carmen Lampe Zeitler and John Zeitler left the polling place at Central Presbyterian Church on Grand Avenue this morning, proudly wearing buttons that read “Josh Sent Me.”
Lampe Zeitler explained that the buttons were in honor of a friend’s son, Josh Riggle, who recently died at a young age.
“He would be really angry that he couldn’t vote in this election,” Lampe Zeitler said, speaking about Riggle’s political activism.
Lampe Zeitler said Riggle’s mother made the buttons and distributed them to her late son’s friends and family.
“So we should all vote and tell them Josh sent us,” Lampe Zeitler said.
Saying she would have voted anyway, she opened her jacket to reveal a T-shirt that said Kamala Harris. Lampe Zeitler said she also voted for Lanon Baccam in the congressional race.
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Poll workers at Precinct 40 for Des Moines said traffic was heavy early in the morning from about 7 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. and that there had been a steady stream of people coming to vote all morning. Marianne Monday-Edsill said, “Everything has just floated,” for pollsters so far.
Staci Williams, who voted for Harris in the presidential election, said she was encouraged by the number of people at the polling place.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Williams said. “I think if there is a really strong turnout, it will lean Democrat.”
Williams said the “attacks” on women’s freedoms and on the LGBTQ population are some of the issues that matter most to her.
“It was unbelievable,” Williams said when asked if he could vote for a female presidential candidate. “Hopefully a different outcome than the last time I had the opportunity to vote for a woman.”
Donna and Ralph Rieck said they voted because it is part of their “duty” and it is something they have been doing for 50 years.
The couple declined to share who they voted for, but said they were registered Republicans.
“(We are) not happy with what is going on with the fighting and the ugliness that this race brings,” Donna Rieck said, saying it is the first time she has felt that way toward her party.
“We have to keep democracy together,” said Ralph Rieck about what is most important to him as a voter.
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