The Bayview Community Center in downtown Madison is usually a lively place, and Election Day is no exception. At lunchtime on Tuesday, people streamed in for the center’s free lunch, a knitting club meetup, a food pantry stocking session — and voting. Tom Wilson, the polling site’s chief inspector, said turnout appears on track to match or surpass the 2024 presidential election, with 414 in-person and absentee ballots counted by 1:30. The ward has just under 1,200 registered voters.
Voting has gone smoothly all day, Wilson said, except when a wet ballot jammed one of the tabulator machines. The city quickly sent someone to fix it.
Wilson credited election volunteers and community center staff with making the day a success. “All of our poll workers have been great, and everybody’s been showing up and working hard,” Wilson said. “It’s really great to see all these different pieces of the community working together to allow people to come out here to vote.”
UW-Madison student and Omega Psi Phi fraternity President Rashaad Delgado was among the voters at the polling place. He voted for Democrats.
“I really don’t respect the current administration right now, and I don’t respect the current leader,” Delgado said, adding that President Trump’s rhetoric and immigration crackdown have affected members of his family. “It shouldn’t be continuing any further.”
Originally from South Central Los Angeles, Delgado, 21, has voted since turning 18. As a first-generation college student and the son of immigrants, he sees it as his duty.
“So many people before me have literally fought tooth and nail to be able to vote,” Delgado said, pointing to challenges like segregation and poll taxes. “Now that it’s so easy, why wouldn’t we vote?”
Delgado recently organized a voter registration event at his fraternity. He’s been glad to see so many students, including freshmen, passionate about casting their votes.
“Everybody’s just talking about voting,” Delgado said. “It’s a great thing to see people young like myself wanting to go out there and vote.”
While some people accuse his generation of not being hardworking, Delgado thinks he and his peers have what the country needs.
“I really do see us as being the change and being the voice,” Delgado said. “I feel like we’re a lot more educated, and we’re not ones to just sit down and…have other people tell us what to do.”
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