Arian Mireles, 18, bounced out of the Hermitage Library with a smile on his face after voting for the first time. “I am really hoping I can make a change in America,” he said.
The Lipscomb University student initially struggled to decide who would get his first vote.
“I had to talk to my parents I had to talk to my coworkers,” he said. In the end, he decided on Kamala Harris.
As a first generation Mexican American, Mireles said Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric makes him nervous for his own family.
“I am just afraid,” he said. “My family don’t deserve to get deported. Because they came here for a better life. Sure, there are people out there doing criminal stuff. But that’s not who we are. Us Hispanics, we are made here to work here and make America better.”
Moments later, Kathryn Krajec walked out with her young daughter. Visibly overcome with emotion, Krajec looked toward her daughter and said, “I hope she can make decisions that I was able to make when I was 18.”
Sitting near the library’s entrance was 99-year-old Frank Michanowicz, a World War II veteran. He had just cast his ballot for Trump, citing the border, the economy and the surging price of groceries. But his son, Mark Michanowicz, 65, felt very differently. In fact, he had traveled all the way from Venice, Italy, where he lives after retiring from the army, to vote in this election.
With an eye toward foreign policy, the younger Michanowicz was about to cast his vote — for the very first time in his life — for Kamala Harris.
“She’s not friends with Putin, she’s not friends with North Korea. I just cannot see our president being friends with those guys.”
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