I got to wondering about how people in the Waterville area will vote in the presidential election Nov. 5.

So, having some time Saturday afternoon, I drove around to find out, and randomly asked 19 people.

I stopped first at the Paul J. Schupf Art Center in downtown Waterville where I found Don Smallidge and his wife, Gale Davison, drinking

coffee at a table overlooking Main Street. They were celebrating their 21st wedding anniversary, they said.

“I’m voting for Harris-Walz because it’s the only sane choice,” Smallidge, 75, of Waterville said. “And I mean no disrespect to the people who choose to vote for Trump. I know some people who are voting for Trump, and reasonable people can disagree.”

A retired computer programmer, Smallidge described Trump as a bully who appears to be in serious cognitive decline and doesn’t seem to be able to hold a thought together. Harris, on the other hand, is articulate, has a lot of experience as a prosecutor and is used to dealing with people who are difficult, he said.

Davison, 70, a retired licensed clinical social worker who was a child protective worker for 10 years, said she also is voting to Harris.

“That is not a vote against Trump,” she said. “I am voting for the Harris-Walz ticket because I really like what she stands for. I am over the moon that she’s so positive and, of course, energetic. I mean, she’s just alive.”

Davison said she supports the right of women to make choices about their own bodies and medical care.

“I’m particularly concerned about the woman who has medical reasons for wanting to have an abortion,” she said. “There are people who are pregnant, not by their own choice, but because they are raped. They certainly don’t want to carry those children to term.”

I headed down to the RiverWalk at Head of Falls and found Gary Shaw, 45, sitting on a bench overlooking the Kennebec River. He said he is a disabled veteran who has two children ages 12 and 17, and three ex-wives.

“I just don’t vote,” he said. “I never have. I don’t really believe in the electoral process. It seems like they just throw a lot of crap at each other.”

In Waterville’s South End, Jen Avery was walking her dog, Fae, a 4-month-old black and brown German Rottweiller, near the ball field at the south end of Water Street. A St. Albans resident, Avery, 41, said she was in town to visit a friend.

“I’m undecided if I’m going to vote or not,” she said. “If I did, I’d probably vote for Harris. She’s different. I think we need a change. Honestly, I like her counterpart, Tim Walz. He’s more real. He’s more your everyday person. He’s a veteran. He acts like he’s more your average, everyday, blue collar person.”

I drove west to Oakland and stopped by the gazebo at the public boat landing on Messalonskee Lake. There, I met a 25-year-old man who declined to give his name and said he hadn’t decided whether he will vote.

“I don’t think either of them is necessarily going to be better for the country,” he said. “I think the world has gone too political. It doesn’t really matter who wins, anyway.”

It was late afternoon and still sunny and when I returned to Waterville and stopped at the large, sloping lawn in front of Miller Library at Colby College where several students were scattered across the lawn, sitting in Adirondack chairs. Many appeared to be studying. I approached two women and three men, all sitting separately, who politely declined to comment on the election.

But Colby junior Claire Campbell, 21, of Westfield, New Jersey, was happy to do so.

“I’m going to vote for Kamala Harris,” she said. “Outside of both of the candidates, I more identify with the Democratic party.”

Campbell, an English major, said she finds Donald Trump’s “general persona repulsive.”

“I don’t support his politics,” she said. “I don’t at all think he is a good person or has the best interest of our country in mind and I think I feel way different about Kamala. She has a lot of political experience, she seems very level-headed and I trust her as a person.”

In the town of Fairfield, I found two men and two women sitting at a picnic table at Island Apartments, just off the bridge over the Kennebec River. The men declined to comment. One woman, 67, said she will vote but will make her decision when she gets into the voting booth. She didn’t want to give her name.

“It is a tough choice for me, personally,” she said.

But Barbara Gourley, 75, was certain of her choice and said she had already voted absentee.

“I always vote,” she said. “I’m voting for Harris. I’m sick of Trump. He’s a cheat, a liar and has always been that way. He causes too much trouble.”

I hoped that when I got to Winslow I would find some Trump supporters to balance out my report, but I wasn’t very successful. Judging by the many Trump signs I see dotting the streets, however, I know there are many.

Edward Henderson and his sister, Valerie, had just left Pleau’s Market parking lot and were walking on China Road when I flagged them down.

Henderson said he had just turned 18 and was going to register to vote. He will vote for Harris, he said.

“I have a lot of friends in the LGBTQ community and I’m very supportive of LGBTQ people, and Trump’s, like, not the biggest fan of LBGTQ,” he said. “I am bisexual.”

Valerie Henderson, 31, said she was not registered to vote but may do so and vote for Harris.

“I’m more for Kamala than Trump,” she said.

I then approached two middle-aged men who exited a car in the Pleau’s parking lot. They were hurrying in when I asked if they planned to vote.

“I already voted,” one man said.

When asked who he voted for, he replied, simply, “I’m a Democrat.”

The other man, stating he was a Republican, didn’t want to reveal his candidate of choice.

“Not interested,” he said.

Amy Calder has been a Morning Sentinel reporter 35 years. Her columns appear here Saturdays. She is the author of the book, “Comfort is an Old Barn,” a collection of her curated columns, published in 2023 by Islandport Press. She may be reached at [email protected]. For previous Reporting Aside columns, go to centralmaine.com