Election Day 5:03 p.m.

Maddy Nelson, the career readiness technology manager at the University of Oregon Career Center, just got off work. She said the stakes this evening are high. “I am a gay woman — this election for me means that I get to keep loving the person that I love,” she said. 

Nelson had her late father, a veteran, in her thoughts when she voted. Her father, who passed away last year, worked to help expose flaws in the Veterans Affairs systems, she said. “The Republican candidate has talked very poorly about veterans in the past, and proposed cuts to the Veterans Affairs administration,” she said. 

The Deschutes County native is a registered independent and said she researches all candidates. In this election, she said her decision was easy.