Penn primary: a blue-collar worker tells us about his first time voting

A polling station in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Photo by Sandra Miller, a farmer who's following the primaries for the Observers.

Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania yesterday, keeping her in the nomination race. Rather than speculate on the details of the results, (which you can find here), we give the account of Mike Ruddy, a mason, one of the much-talked about "blue-collar workers", who voted for the first time yesterday.

"I would check my answering machine only to hear three to four different calls trying to motivate me"

Mike Ruddy:

I am a registered Democrat and this was my very first time voting. Coming home after work, I would check my answering machine only to hear three to four different calls trying to motivate me to vote for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. Being a first time voter, I was very confused. I was inspired by my local union to vote for Hillary, but after hearing all the different campaign speeches on my answering machine I was starting to feel uncertain. Then I was furious to hear Obama made the comment that blue-collar workers cling to their guns or religion. That statement was in my eyes the straw that broke the camels back and from that moment on I was certain that I was going to vote for Hillary.

So after getting home from work on election day, I again listened to four more calls on the answering machine which were all from Obama. I then went with my parents to the borough building in our town to place our ballots. Upon arriving at the polling station, I saw 4 people with signs - two for Hillary and two for Barack. I went inside the building and stood in line for about 15 minutes stretching my head to see if I could see how voting was down. It was very simple, but still I was a little nervous. My parents said it is not a big deal, but they probably forgot how it was to be voting for the very first time. When it was my turn the volunteer asked my name as I nervously watched her check the voting book and to my surprise there it was. I smiled and walked over to place my vote. I went down the list and marked my ballot. Then I stood up straight, took a quick glance around the room and inserted my ballot into the scanner. After walking out, my Mom said, "that was easy wasn't it?" I nodded my head, but inside I felt very proud to have the opportunity to vote and hope that my choice will be the winner."