Live Updates: Elections 2020 In Illinois

After he voted at the Beverly Arts Center on Chicago’s South Side, Millard Southern said immigration, police reform and, most importantly, police brutality and racism were top of mind for him. He said he voted for Joe Biden for president.

“As a Black man, I was stopped by cops multiple times for no apparent reason,” said Millard, 39, of Beverly. “I’m a college-educated Black male. Living in this world, you are stopped and things happen and you wonder why, if it’s the color of your skin. But it happens more often than not. Those types of issues kind of propel me to vote and think critically about the world we live in.”

Marianne Rowan decided to drop off her ballot already filled out at home instead of waiting in line on Election Day.

As she walked out of the Beverly Arts Center past the long line of voters waiting outside in the parking lot, Rowan shared some insight into how she voted and why.

“I have on my Ruth Bader Ginsburg pearls for today,” she said. I just think it’s time for a change, so I made my voice heard in my own way.”

Ginsburg was the U.S. Supreme Court justice who championed women’s rights and equality. Her death in September set off a firestorm that led the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate to quickly confirm conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett to the bench last month, tilting the court farther to the right.

“I don’t want to tell you exactly how I voted, but you probably know,” Rowan said. “I did not vote a straight ballot. I did go down a few different things. I tried to choose the best candidate.”

“It’s giving me some hope,” Rowan said of voting. “And no matter who wins I’m going to accept it and live with it, and kind of remember that all politics are local.”