Mykel King will cast his first vote this year. And he’s feeling overwhelmed.
Politics aren’t a completely new world for the 19-year-old native of Macon, Georgia. He recalls growing up in a Democratic household and his dad teaching him and his brother about elections as he watched America elect its first Black president. He remembers lessons on the importance of voting — and lessons on how this country’s political system isn’t always fair.
“We have a lot of candidates this year. So it's a little overwhelming.”
Top left clockwise: Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Tom Steyer give speeches during the MLK Day event at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina.
Supporters march to the South Carolina Statehouse from Zion Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina.
Kenneth Stevenson has no doubts that he will be voting for Biden.
“I voted since I was 18 so I participated in all the primaries and everything. I want someone who will defeat the current individual in the White House.”
Faith Dupree may only be 22, but she stands firm in her political identity.
The Benedict College senior is a first-generation college student, military kid, daughter of an immigrant and chairperson of the school’s NAACP chapter. She grew up in a household of Democrats. Whatever mom and dad says goes, so she believed she would inherit their beliefs walking in to cast her ballot.
“Everybody's so quick to be revolutionary after something happens. I want to be proactive in it.”
Jay Shealy has never voted.
That’s because he spent roughly the last 13 years incarcerated. Shealy, who’s originally from Philadelphia but moved to Columbia with his family, spent two separate “tours,” as he describes it, in the prison system. He was released on Dec. 31.
“I wasn't able to get my voter registration card due to the fact that I was a felon or what not. And I wanted to vote, but I couldn't.”
The statue of George Washington on the steps of the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina.
Darrell Goodwin wants you to know that socialism isn’t scary.
An avid Sanders supporter, the 50-year-old businessman was born and raised in Columbia. He explained that he will likely be supporting the Vermont senator for a second time, primarily because of Sanders’ enduring case for democratic socialism.
“I think a lot of people are scared of socialism because they think it's more like communism, but it's not.”
A customer has their hair cut at Stroy's Barber & Styling shop in Columbia, South Carolina. The barbershop has been a part of Columbia’s community for over 90 years in the area know as “Black Wall Street” and is a regular place for political debates.
Darius Jones sees a little bit of himself reflected in Pete Buttigieg.
At first glance, it seems the two men are worlds apart. Jones is a 30-year-old Black man from Columbia. Buttigieg is a white man from South Bend, Indiana. Jones attended a nearby historically Black university, Allen University, while Buttigieg attended Harvard and is an Oxford Rhodes Scholar.
“Just to see him and his partner go throughout the United States together, hand in hand, spreading the same message of basically love and peace and unity and honestly that right there puts him at the forefront for me.”
It’s the day of the Spring Student Organization Fair at the University of South Carolina. Ashley Harrington, the event director for the USC College Democrats, is headed to her organization’s table to encourage students to vote and get involved.
The third-year political science major and statewide president for the College Democrats of America showed up to campus that morning wearing a “Badass” shirt with the Democratic donkey, clearly indicating her politics.
“I'm always sick of the candidate that shows up to a church and just walks away. That’s just a trope that occurs and occurs.”
Roger Leakes is a self-proclaimed “country boy.” His political stances are firmly Republican and he voted for Trump in 2016. The 79-year-old said that his main concern right now is making sure his quality of life isn’t compromised. Not by plans to address the student loan debt crisis, policies against fracking or monthly $1,000 checks in the mail that would be coming out of his taxes. Leakes believes everyone should be self-reliant, as he says he and his family have been for years.
“I'm concerned about things like college tuition being paid. I don't think we should even consider anything like that.”
A Trump supporter shouts and waves a Trump 2020 flag during the MLK Day celebration at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina. In attendance was the 2020 Democratic candidates and state and city officials.
Donna Thompson hasn’t decided who she’s voting for yet, but “it won’t be Trump.”
Sparing a moment to talk about the 2020 presidential candidates during her lunch break at Trinity Education Community and Conference Center in Columbia’s Waverly neighborhood, the 58-year-old explained that she is split on who to support between Sanders, Buttigieg and Warren.
“The middle class and the working folks: I think this country is running on our backs and it's about to break us.”
Travis Washington is ready for Sanders to transform the nation’s health care system.
The 51-year-old retired veteran, who served in the Army from 1984 to 2004, stood outside the Zion Baptist Church at the MLK Day march to the Statehouse holding a sign for Sanders and wearing a T-shirt that read: “If you support these programs, the military, the police, firemen, national parks and social security, then you already support democratic socialism.”
“As retired military, I'm on single-payer, government-run insurance. There are some veterans that are 100%, that can do some side jobs to make extra money. I'm not one of them.”
Lyric Swinton has one immediate concern when she heads to the ballot box: Which candidate is best suited to address the student debt crisis?
The 21-year-old University of South Carolina senior grew up going to the polls with her mom and grandma, and they instilled in her the importance of voting in every election once she turned 18. She’d just made the cut in the 2016 presidential election, when she cast her vote for Hillary Clinton. This year, she’s leaning toward Warren because “she has a plan for everything.”
“As a college student about to graduate with student loans on the horizon for me, student debt is 100% a major concern.”
The South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina.
For more information and story visit HuffPost: Black at the Ballot