CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) — In the first six days of early voting in Erie County, more than 100,000 people have cast their votes.
And 56 percent of them are women.
While that may not be surprising — women outnumber the number of men registered to vote in the county — there's also a woman running for president and many issues important to women at stake this election.
I spoke with eight women who showed up to vote Friday at the Cheektowaga Senior Center, one of the busiest early voting sites in the county.
Here's what they had to say about why they had come to cast their ballots in this historic election.
“I have a granddaughter and I'm a firm believer in giving, making sure she has her rights heard. And this is my way of doing it," said Pat Rozler.
“This time is so much different than Hillary...You got all excited, but you could see it just wasn't going to happen. So this year, hopefully, at least we have a chance," said Shari Kohart.
“What's motivating me is we've got to change the world because we're in trouble, for the past four years we've been in trouble, and if we don't put our votes in, nothing's gonna change," said Toni.
“I vote every year. I mean, it's ritual for me. But this year, I'm making sure that I get my vote in because I'm not real happy the with the economy. I'm not happy with the border situation. I'm just not happy with the current administration," said Karen Burkhardt.
“For a long time I didn't vote because I didn't believe in either candidate. And this year I very strongly believe so...I wanted to make sure I cast my vote. My primary issue is female rights. You know, I feel like females have been jilted, and doing my part to try to help them get rights back," said Valerie Pepe.
“Probably women...as being mothers of the house and the issues surrounding family and children and what's going on in our school districts, I think women are paying a little more attention and their voices want to be heard," said Lisa Reinhardt.
Me: “Was it meaningful to you to be able to vote for a woman this time?"
“Yes, but that's not why I would vote for a woman. Yes, she's a woman of color too, which I'm happy about. I'm happy she's a woman, but I'm voting for her brains, her morals, her characteristics," said Beth McNaughton.
“Hopefully, the best person wins in the long run that is going to do better for the country no matter what that is and that all the people stand behind...whoever is elected and we all want this, you know, to get to a better place," said Eileen Goldstein.
Early voting continues through Sunday. Early voting sites will be open in Erie County on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Erie County residents can vote at any of the sites. Here's a link to all of those sites.
There's no voting on Monday.
The general election is this Tuesday. You must go to your own polling place to vote on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
