After 2012 primary, looking ahead to the presidential election
A few voters in Lower Merion look ahead to November elections, after they cast their primary ballots.
Election speak didn't stop for two Gladwyne couples after they cast their votes in the April 24 Pennsylvania Primary.
When Jim and Nancy Redeker exited the Gladwyne Firehouse polls after 6 p.m., the two not only expressed their support for the voter ID law, but also cited the presidential race as a motivating reason the couple cast their vote.
Jim Redeker, a 71-year-old lawyer, said he voted for Sen. John McCain in 2008, as did Nancy Redeker. Redeker added that while she doesn't always vote Republican – she said she would have liked to vote for Patrick Murphy for attorney general or Democrat Mike Gerber for the 148th district state representative seat – she felt compelled to support Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in this election.
"I'm very concerned about the economy," Redeker said. "Obviously [President] Obama is a very likeable person, but I don't think he's very experienced, and it's showing in mistakes he's made."
"I don't want my grandchildren inheriting an enormous amount of debt," she added.
Paulette Gertner Elkman and her husband Andy Yates left the Gladwyne Firehouse polls engaged in a debate over the presidential race.
"Obama had a chance, now it's [Mitt] Romney's turn," Yates, 76, said. "To be a hero, Romney has to do what has to be done to get the country back to its former spot and reputation in the eyes of the world."
The couple identifies as Republican, and Yates, a retired insurance appraiser, voted for McCain in the 2008 presidential race.
Elkman, 61, said she was contemplating how she'd vote come November. The Montessori schoolteacher said she had thought a great deal about the race, since her 21-year-old daughter, a student at University of Massachusetts, Boston, asked her which party she should register under.
In terms of dealing with a variety of national issues, Elkman thought to get things done, "it takes a combination" of both parties' tactics and philosophies. She voted for Obama in 2008.
"This coming election is going to be a difficult decision," Elkman said. "But it's not like the guy[Obama] didn't do anything."