Pennsylvania residents bid farewell to ‘insane' election

Richard Hall reports from a small town in Bucks County where voters were bombarded with nonn-stop campaigning

- Richard Hall

A purple county in the middle of a swing state may be a dream for presidential candidates, but the reality of being a campaign’s most desired item – a possibly undecided voter – is a nightmare for the residents of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Voters here are hammered by political ads from all sides, and many are happy it will finally come to an end yesterday.

“It’s been insane,” says Wendy Hanley, a 49-year-old resident of Bensalem, as she leaves a polling place at a high school in the town. “That’s all we get in the mail. Phone calls, texts, TV.”

“People are coming to our door constantly,” she adds.

A passerby, who also just cast their vote, overhears the conversation and agrees: “They gotta stop all that shit!” he shouts.

The road to the White House runs through counties like Bucks, which often flip between candidates and are used as signposts to determine who could win the race.

As The Independent drove into Bensalem, a township of some 63,000 people just 32km (20 miles) outside of Philadelphia, digital billboards were showing ads for Kamala Harris followed seconds later by ads for Donald Trump.