| You came. You saw. You voted. And many of you wrote to tell me what issues drove you to the polls on Tuesday. Your motivations? Climate change, rhetoric against journalists, immigration, health care, education and much more. Below I've included a selection of reader responses, which have been edited for clarity and length, though I'll admit that I found many of these so compelling that I've included several in their entirety. Thank you for writing in, and as always, feel free to send me your thoughts, suggestions and favorite reads from the section at Op-reads@nytimes.com. | | "I am voting like my very life depends on it, because it does. Civil rights, personal rights, voting rights, the right to affordable health care that protects pre-existing conditions, for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, CHIPs, and many other issues that matter to me. I am voting not only for my rights but also for the rights of those whose rights are being violated and suppressed. I am voting for those who are marginalized, for women's rights, for Black Lives Matter, for Jews, for Muslims, for Hispanics, for refugees coming to this nation for safe haven and a better life. I am voting for all of those people denied the right to vote in the past and even now where states are purging rolls and trying to deny blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics the right to vote. I am voting for the children still held hostage by the Trump administration and for those who are coming, because his plans are to keep them caged up for an indefinite period of time. I am voting for the children who are American by birth. I am voting because of Puerto Ricans who are still trying to rebuild their homes and their lives. I am voting for all of those who bravely serve and are willing to lay down their very lives to keep us free and have given me the privilege, the responsibility, and the absolute right to vote. I am voting for the poor, the working poor, the middle class." — Peggy Van Sickle, Brighton, Mich. | | "I am voting out of fear. Trump's actions and direction are changing this country in a way that celebrates racism, violence, deception, divisiveness, despotism and jingoism. The Republicans are complicit in Trump's agenda, so I want to elect candidates who will restore the checks and balances needed to prevent the executive branch from destroying our American values." — Laura Messer, West Edmeston, N.Y. | | "As the parent of a disabled young man, who works three jobs, I vote to make sure that programs for disabled citizens are maintained. Watching the president mock a disabled person has motivated many parents and caregivers to vote." — Debbie Johnson, Madison, Wis. | | "By far the most important issue driving me to the polls this week is checks and balances desperately needed on an extremely dangerous, criminal, racist, depraved, immoral, unbelievably arrogant, willfully ignorant president who has diminished democracy in our country and the world. I don't expect that my vote will help one iota in the reduction of his power, but at least I will have the satisfaction of knowing that my vote will be counted among those cast by people who bothered to make the effort. And that's really the point. Voting is a patriotic act. It's a very small but important act, and it contributes in some small way to the existence of liberal democracy, which I still believe in, despite our recent history." — Jay Brashear Sr., Sacramento County, Calif. | | |
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