By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – Residents rallied Oct. 17 to encourage people to vote in the upcoming election, walking from PEACE Park West to the ballot collection box at Ford Field.
They also carried signs and banners expressing their opinions on elections issues and Trump’s recent actions.
Protester Trisha Jochim said as they walked to Ford Field, they planned to mail a letter to U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D – Michigan), asking her to “get rid of Trump,” and to tell her to address ICE raids.
She said they also Slotkin to call for universal background checks for those elected to office, trans rights protection, safe and legal abortion, and paths to citizenship.
“These are not extreme ideas,” she said. “This is just our common ground.”
Jochim said it was encouraging that rallies were occurring across the country.
“It’s giving me hope that we are going to end some of this autocracy, and we are standing up to vote for democracy,” she said.
Protester L. Glenn O’Kray said it is important to “continually confront the nation with the fact that we have a terrible president, the worst president in the history of this nation.”
“We cannot lose sight of that and we have to continually remind others, as well as ourselves, that we want to get him and everybody like him out of office,” he said.
O’Kray said he hopes the midterm elections will make a difference.
“I’ve been doing my share knocking on doors, and I’m very hopeful that we will win the Senate and turn the Senate over to the Democrats,” he said.
O’Kray encouraged voters to place campaign signs for their favored candidates in front of their house, to vote, and to encourage their friends through social media to vote as well.
Political activist Leslie Herrick said the rally served an important purpose by reminding people to get out and vote.
“It’s a privilege that we have a vote here in this country, and this is your chance to express your voice and where you think we should be headed as a country,” she said. “If you’re not happy with the current situation, this is a chance to stand up for what you believe in and find the candidates and the issues that are important to you and take a stand.”
Herrick said gathering like this, whether large or small, let people speak up for their rights and the things that are important to their quality of life in the U.S.
“A lot of that is in jeopardy right now,” she said. “We’ve seen that, and some of our national treasures have been defaced in the name of ‘progress’ when really, it’s not.”
Herrick said gatherings like the rally to get out the vote are a chance to encourage others to make a change.
Participant Paul Bruce said rallies allow them to remind voters that it is possible through voting to help bring about change.
“There are still people’s minds that we might have to change or convince what the right path for our country is to go,” he said. “Being visible and having people see us is the best way to do that.”
Bruce said he favors candidates who want to get money out of politics, equality for everyone, and immediate removal of “the ICE travesty that is going on in our nation.”
“I’m glad to know that so many of these rallies are taking place nationwide, and this particular one is a little different because it wasn’t meant to be for speeches and so forth like the other ones were,” he said. “It’s just a demonstration to watch how we are going to take back what we need to take back, just by walking ourselves over with our ballots and putting them in the proper boxes so that we don’t have to deal with any problems with the mail, because now that’s a worry.”
Protestor Laura Dungeon said it is important to hear everybody’s voices at the polls.
“We want everyone to vote, and this is another visual of ‘get out the vote,’” she said. “We don’t care who you are voting for – I mean, I have my choices – but it is important that everybody vote because then it is a real reflection of the people.”
Dungeon said it is important to stop what is going on in Washington, D.C. right now.
“We have to get control of what’s going on, and the people are the only way to do it,” he said. “Because democracy is being challenged big time and we are here to fight for it.”