Do not take a defeat of Donald Trump for granted and vote overwhelmingly to ensure a "
large victory
" for Joe Biden: New Yorkers, overwhelmingly Democrats, flocked this Saturday, October 24 in turn to vote in advance for the presidential election.
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A line stretched for several blocks on Saturday morning - the first day of early voting in New York State - outside the unusually landscaped polling station this year in the lobby of Madison Square Garden in Manhattan: since March , this legendary venue for concerts and sporting events is silenced due to the pandemic, but NBA players obtained in August, following protests against racial inequalities, to transform several large basketball halls into polling stations.
In this metropolis hard hit by the pandemic in the spring, but which for the moment resists a comeback of the virus, the voters, duly masked, sometimes gloved, seemed ready to wait in peace, for several hours, before being able to go through the metal detector gates leading to the polling station.
"
So much has happened, it's a privilege to stand in line like that,
" said Jerad Ashby who, like all those interviewed by AFP, supports former vice-president Joe Biden.
"
You have to (elect) someone suitable, who will represent everyone and not just those who agree with him
."
For this 38-year-old father, even if the State of New York systematically votes Democratic and is not one of the key states that can change the election on November 3, voting massively is important because "
it is not only necessary win, but win really largely
”.
Kenneth Scarlett, who works in marketing, also believes that key state or not, “
the country must know how all of its citizens are positioned.
I want Trump to be repudiated as clearly as possible
”.
Read also: Attacked by Obama and Biden, Trump displays his confidence ten days before the election
The New York media reported long queues in front of the more than 80 polling stations open for this early vote, which will last until November 1.
For many residents of this city of immigration and diversity, the very future of American democracy was at stake.
"
We are in a democratic crisis in the United States, we must vote
", declared in French, the Franco-American actor Timothée Chalamet, 24, after having voted.
"
There is only one candidate who supports democracy, not two,
" he added with reference to Joe Biden.
"Hunt Trump!"
“
In 2016, too many people were complacent and did not go to vote.
We can't let this happen again.
Everyone has to get out,
”also underlined Lisa, in her fifties working in finance, while waiting patiently on the sidewalk.
She who had always considered herself an independent
voter
, a "
centrist
" voting sometimes Republican, sometimes Democrat, believes that being a Republican now means supporting a party that has become the embodiment of "
evil
".
For her, who already pays "a
lot of taxes
", a Democratic victory could translate into even higher taxes.
But "
I prefer the expensive to the evil,
" she says.
Like others, she fears violence after the election, whatever the outcome.
The New York police force has been preparing for several weeks for protests that could degenerate.
Even for the early voting, she deployed officers to all offices.
The Democratic town hall has also announced the recruitment of "
volunteer observers
" to avoid any "
intimidation
" of voters.
Read also: Obama accuses Trump of having "completely messed up" his management of the pandemic
In the absence of pro-Trump, it was a small group of left-wing activists who had come to "
encourage
" voters that the police asked on Saturday to keep their distance from the line.
And in particular to avoid, as one of them did at one point, shouting “
Hunt Trump!
"
What if the New York billionaire, despite the rejection of his hometown, was re-elected despite everything?
For Laura Gillis, 65, this would prove that the American electoral system for appointing the president by large voters “
must change
” in favor of a direct popular vote.
But for Kenneth Scarlett, "
we should not despair: we should find out why, and work even harder so that more citizens see things as we see them
".
