As polls opened at 7 a.m. today in Nashville, early bird voters brought strong opinions to their balloting for mayor and seven remaining seats on the Metro Council. (Some parts of the county are also deciding the House District 51 contest today.)
At Eakin Elementary, Lien Nguyen said she’s concerned about political participation in Nashville’s Asian American communities. She’s a regular voter, and says the increase in anti-Asian discrimination in recent years has only made voting more important to her.
“I think the people are just complacent. You know, they’re complacent and they feel like everything’s gonna be OK because we’re in America,” she said. “And, no, you have to work for it and you have to, you have to fight for it.”
Nashville has seen four mayoral races in under a decade, and affordable housing has been a prominent issue in all of them.
Mikayla Lewis, an artist and small business owner, says she sees affordability as the key to keeping longtime residents.
“I mean, we’re pushing so many people out that, you know, we’ve seen so many changes in Nashville over the last decade. And it’s important to keep the people that really care about the community here versus, you know, investors from out of state, New York, L.A., all that that don’t really invest in the community, but are just here about the money.”
The polls are open until 7 p.m. You can find yours online here.
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