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The Military, Border Security And Jobs Drive Early Voters To The Polls

Louisa Jonas
/
Texas Public Radio
Morris Goen

Early voting continues to be strong throughout Texas. In Bexar County early voting locations will continue to be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Friday.

We talked to voters casting ballots at Lion's Field about the issues that are driving them to the polls. “Getting rid of corruption in Washington D.C. and we need some change,” say a woman who prefers to remain anonymous. “A lot of it is the military, all the wars we’re fighting in, what we should be doing, what we shouldn’t be doing, what we need to be doing with ISIS. Border security is very big to me to.”Mary Lou Riojas says, "I had a hard time finding job these last two years, and I just found one recently that had benefits. That’s what I was looking for. I think a lot of people—that’s what they want, a good job with benefits with insurance. I think that’s what people are trying to look for in a president, that’s going to give ‘em that.” “Looking at me, I’m a 6-foot-3, 250 pound black guy,” says a man who also wishes to be anonymous. “What you’ll see is it’s fairly difficult for a person like me to live their lives as a normal person. And when I hear one candidate talk about making it more difficult for people to live the lives that they should be able to live by being who they are, I can’t circle around that. I can’t support that candidate.” Morris Goen says, "What’s important to me in voting today is No. 1 is the belief in the security of our country, both militarily and internally, by means of securing our border. Making sure our enemies know we are a country."

Louisa Jonas is an independent public radio producer, environmental writer, and radio production teacher based in Baltimore. She is thrilled to have been a PRX STEM Story Project recipient for which she produced a piece about periodical cicadas. Her work includes documentaries about spawning horseshoe crabs and migratory shorebirds aired on NPR's Weekend All Things Considered. Louisa previously worked as the podcast producer at WYPR 88.1FM in Baltimore. There she created and produced two documentary podcast series: Natural Maryland and Ascending: Baltimore School for the Arts. The Nature Conservancy selected her documentaries for their podcast Nature Stories. She has also produced for the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s Distillations Podcast. Louisa is editor of the book Backyard Carolina: Two Decades of Public Radio Commentary. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her training also includes journalism fellowships from the Science Literacy Project and the Knight Digital Media Center, both in Berkeley, CA. Most recently she received a journalism fellowship through Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution where she traveled to Toolik Field Station in Arctic Alaska to study climate change. In addition to her work as an independent producer, she teaches radio production classes at Howard Community College to a great group of budding journalists. She has worked as an environmental educator and canoe instructor but has yet to convince a great blue heron to squawk for her microphone…she remains undeterred.