We Found a Romney Voter in Silver Spring

After speaking with many, many Barack Obama supporters and residents who supported gay marriage, we found a woman in Silver Spring who voted for his Republican challenger Mitt Romney. She also voted against Question 6, which would legalize gay marriage. 

"I wanted to vote for Romney because I’m worried about Obama’s stand against religion—that’s the most important thing to me in the whole world," said Virginia Druliner, 70. 

She continued, explaining that she believes that the Affordable Care Act's birth control mandate is unfair to Catholic people:

[The Affordable Care] that’s just another strike, it’s just a strike against freedom of religion in America, that’s what it is. And that is happening completely way too much and I can’t go there. I had to go for Romney who I don’t even like because he is a supporter of religious freedom, openly.

Druliner's religion also informed her vote on Question 6:

Six, I voted against because marriage is something that is between a man and a woman in order to produce a family. I feel sorry for these people who want to have same-sex marriages, they can have a contract or something else, but it isn’t marriage. Marriage is a tradition, it is something that makes families. To me, it’s just not right to give that status.

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Not everyone in Silver Spring felt similarly. Here are more voices from Silver Spring voters:

"Obamacare. I'm counting the days for this to be in full implementation. Friends of mine who are survivors of cancer, friends of mine who have difficult mental health and physical health conditions that won’t be able to be covered. It terrifies me that we could lose that after so much work getting that established." 

"I think Obama has done a remarkable job getting a lot of stuff done with not much help. I think he’s a hero—I’ve been praying with might and mane." Becky Rizvi, 53, on why she voted for President Obama. 

"It felt good to vote for the marriage equality act. It would be good to get a time behind us when that kind of discrimination went on. I would like to move past that so everybody can do their thing equally." Eric Meany, 44, on Question 6, which would legalize same-sex marriage. 

"I was especially excited to vote in Maryland for gay marriage and the Dream Act. Those are two things that are super important and I was just so proud to have voted yes for those two things today.We need to treat all of our citizens equally and fairly." Stehanie Ball, 27, on Questions 4 and 6.