Muskogee area voters hold variety of views on presidential elections

Jan. 13—Retired school counselor Donna Woods recalls what her Cherokee great-grandfather told her about voting.

"He said 'It's very important that you always vote, because we haven't always been allowed to,'" Woods said. "Indians weren't allowed to vote until 1924. He never missed an election after that. He literally got off his death bed at Muskogee Regional Medical Center and went to Webbers Falls to vote in the last election he voted in. It was that important."

Muskogee area voters contacted by the Muskogee Phoenix say this year's presidential election is important. Each has a preferred candidate and reasons for such support.

Woods, Muskogee County Democratic chairwoman, called former President Donald Trump a dangerous choice "because of the insurrection, because of his lack of understanding for the common person, because I feel like his policies benefited the wealthy."

She said President Joe Biden has done a lot for the country.

"Every time I pass a construction site on the roadway right now, I think that has to do with the legislation that was passed to improve our infrastructure," she said.

Woods, a Webbers Falls resident, said top issues include continued improvement to infrastructure, including transportation, internet, water quality and electric services. Health care and education also are important.

Speech pathologist Suzie Buck, a Republican from Muskogee, says she has voted in nearly every presidential, state, city and school election since the 1970s.

"That's part of our duty as citizens to ensure we have people who are qualified to represent us," Buck said.

She said the Bible verse Chronicles 7:14 guides her voting: "If my people who are called by name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land."

Buck said Trump's policies "are really bringing America back."

"I don't like his personality, but I love his policies," she said.

She said she is "totally not impressed" with Biden's policies.

"There's been over three million people come over our southern border and that is frightening to me," Buck said.

Biden's support of abortion also is an issue for Buck, who says she is "very much pro life."

Buck said she also is concerned about inflation.

"Food is so far out of range for so many people," she said. "They are really struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table."

Lori Hytche-Thompson, a diagnostic X-ray technologist, said she doesn't believe Trump is a good choice.

"To me, he's just all about himself, nothing to do with Republican or Democrat, or Black or white or any of that," she said. "He's not a good pick based on how he acts in public."

She said Biden is the only option for the Democrats, but "it's not that he's done anything so great either."

Thompson said she focuses on local elections more than national ones.

"I'm not going to say my vote doesn't count, but we're already in a Republican state, so it doesn't matter how I feel about whoever becomes the representative of the Republican party, that's already who's going to get it," she said.

University of Oklahoma political science major Micah Stafford was president of Muskogee High School's Young Republicans and Young Democrats clubs before graduating from MHS last May.

A registered Republican, Stafford said he plans to vote for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in Oklahoma's Republican Presidential Preferential Primary on March 5.

"She has a record of reaching across the aisles and getting things done, I really think that will be a breath of fresh air for us in terms of presidential politics," he said.

Stafford said he agrees with most of Trump's policy positions, which he said helped the United States prosper. However, he said voters should keep Trump's legal issues in mind.

Biden has been successful in stabilizing the political climate, Stafford said. But, "there are a lot of question marks on leadership, especially in terms of economy."