Here’s what Georgia voters have to say about Trump, Biden heading into Election Day
The Telegraph talked with Macon voters as they exited early voting locations last week to get an idea of what motivated them to cast their ballot and what they thought of the two presidential candidates.
Jeff “Bones” Cheatwood
Jeff “Bones” Cheatwood will likely never forget his encounter with Donald Trump in the months before Trump became president.
It was 2015, at a rally in Alabama.
Cheatwood got Trump’s autograph.
“Talked to him for about three minutes,” Cheatwood recalled recently in a telephone interview about his support for the now-incumbent Trump. “Man, it was just like me and you talking.”
Now with Trump seeking re-election, Cheatwood, who once served aboard submarines in the Navy, is still in Trump’s corner.
Read Cheatwood’s entire interview below:
Carolyn Freeman
There may not be a livelier, more colorful poll worker in America.
Carolyn Freeman, affectionately known as “the Birdlady,” takes her nickname from the flamboyant, falcon-esque outfits she sports as a devotee of Atlanta’s NFL franchise.
For more than two decades, she has perched at games in winged-and-feathered dresses, outfits often flashing more resplendent than the team itself.
Freeman, who is 61 and lives in western Bibb County, has worked as a sheriff’s deputy and in insurance claims. She now oversees a small nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged children, including those who are victims of bullying and domestic abuse.
On a recent afternoon, dressed in Falcons’ red and black with a Falcons-logoed face covering, she greeted early voters at Theron Ussery Park Community Center in north Macon.
Read Freeman’s entire interview below:
Charles Hill
As a grandfather of seven, Charles Hill figures the stakes in this year’s presidential election are greater than ever.
Hill, who is 68 and works in construction, is backing President Donald Trump for the second time.
Five years ago when Trump first announced he was running, Hill wasn’t so sure.
“Oh, no,” Hill told himself, “say it ain’t so.”
But Hill decided to give Trump a chance.
“After I started listening to him,” Hill recalled, “I thought, ‘If he means it, this is what we need.’ And he has done everything he said he was going to do. And that’s what we need. He’s not a politician.”
Read Hill’s entire interview below:
Gregory B. Jones
For Gregory B. Jones, choosing between candidates in the presidential race, in large part, came down to who he feels cares the most about America.
Jones, 50, favors Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
A former Macon cop, Jones spent the first decade of the 2000s patrolling the city’s streets. He now works in health care with people who are coping with mental disabilities.
Originally from New York City, Jones moved to Macon when he was 10. He went to Northeast High School. At college in Tennessee, he majored in criminal justice and sociology.
He worries that if Donald Trump is elected that many people, some of whom he sees through his work, could be left without health insurance.
“I don’t think he really cares too much about these people who have the existing illnesses like the Democrats do. ... Trump is more heartless to me,” Jones said recently after voting early at a north Macon precinct. “It’s like he’s heartless, no compassion.”
Read Jones’ entire interview below: