Love Thy Neighbor? Only a Few People Get That Say at the Ballot Box.

The Washington Post / Jonathan Edwards, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Reis Thebaul

13:52 JST, November 6, 2024

Tens of millions of Americans cast their ballots before or on Election Day, but only a few had the choice to vote for one of their neighbors for president. At least one decided the man down the street shouldn’t be in the White House.

Anne Carr, who lives near former president Donald Trump’s private club and residence, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, was one who had that choice. During covid, Carr moved to the ritzy barrier island book ended with the historic posh resort the Breakers and Trump’s luxury club.

She arrived at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center shortly after Trump had been at the polling place to vote for himself. She decided to cancel out his vote, casting her ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Carr, who’s known Trump since before he hosted “The Apprentice” reality show, said she doesn’t like him as a president and doesn’t like him as a neighbor. Over the years, she ran into him at parties and always considered him a “blowhard.”

“He doesn’t follow the rules,” she said, referring to the town’s policies. A resident is supposed to notify the town when hosting a party or event that will impact traffic so the city can relay the information to the town via text message. “He doesn’t,” she said, causing traffic jams and frustration.

Explaining why she voted for Harris, Carr said: “The reproductive rights issue is the number one issue for me right now.”

She wore her “whites” to play croquet after to keep her mind off the election.

Julie watched Trump’s motorcade leave the recreation center as she was riding her beach cruiser to vote there. Julie, who would not give her last name and reluctantly decided to give her first name because there are a lot of Julies in Palm Beach, moved to the barrier island from New York 12 years ago. In Manhattan, she would occasionally cross paths with Trump at parties. “I didn’t see anything that would lead me to believe that he’s, you know, an odd character,” she said.

Julie declined to say whom she voted for but gave some clues. “I’m very upset about gender. That’s a huge deal for me,” she said, referring to transgender athletes in sports, which has been one of Trump’s closing arguments in campaign ads.

As for Florida’s abortion initiative, Julie voted to overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban.

“It’s her right to choose,” Julie said.

More than 2,300 miles away, at the leafy recreation center in the hills above Sunset Boulevard on the west side of Los Angeles, Harris’s neighbors lined up to cast their ballots. Many were happy with their fellow resident.

The polling place, just up the road from the Brentwood home Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff share, was relatively quiet on Tuesday morning, but volunteers there were still abuzz about another celebrity who stopped by to vote one day earlier: Harrison Ford, who had recently announced his endorsement of Harris.

The area, like many parts of deep-blue Los Angeles, voted overwhelmingly for President Joe Biden in 2020, and residents are expected to do the same this year with one of their own on the ballot. Emhoff bought the home in 2012 for $2.7 million, according to public records, and Harris moved in after the two married in 2014.

They are far from the only marquee names in the upscale, verdant neighborhood. LeBron James and Travis Scott have homes nearby, and the mansion from the “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” is a couple of streets over.

Juliet Lei, a 44-year-old who lives on the same street as Harris, doesn’t consider herself a very political person and doesn’t always vote. But on Monday night, she registered in the state for the first time so she could cast her ballot in person on Tuesday.

“I felt like it meant something for me to show up,” said Lei, a stay-at-home mom who backed Harris. “As a neighbor, as a woman, as a person who supports all people, I felt like it was important to come out.”

Lei was recently talking with a friend and fellow Harris supporter who lives in Palm Beach. Her Brentwood Zip code earned her some bragging rights: “You’re with the devil,” she teased her Florida friend. “That’s your neighbor, and this is my neighbor.”

It’s a good thing Biden dropped out, Lei said, because even though she supports the president, she said she has an up-close look at just how taxing the job of campaigning can be. “Harris is never home,” she said. “It takes a toll.”

Jonathan Goldin, a 63-year-old doctor, doesn’t usually vote in person, but on Tuesday he brought his daughter Hannah to the polls with him so she could cast her first ballot after she turned 18 a few days earlier.

The two, who live a couple of blocks away from Harris, also voted for her and said they said would be confident in the election’s results, no matter who wins.

“It might be an unfair result, but it will be fairly counted,” said Goldin, who immigrated to the United States from South Africa.

Goldin and his family live close enough to Harris to have gotten to know the Secret Service’s security dogs that guard the checkpoint perimeter around the vice president’s home.

“I hope we get invited to the White House for dinner,” Goldin said, laughing – or she could at least come to the neighborhood block party, he added.