Howard Rhinier isn’t shy. Leaving the polling place with his wife, Sheri, and wearing a Punisher mask, Rhinier, an officer in his Teamsters local, explained that he voted for Obama twice but he could never vote for a Democrat now. “I can’t stand this woke correctness,” he said. “They hate you if you don’t believe the same thing they do. You and me may not agree, but I don’t hate you because of your beliefs.” Asked if he thinks Manheim Township will remain Trump country, he frowned. “Probably a toss-up,” he said. “Lotta liberal losers that’s moved here.”

One such liberal loser Rhinier would say he does not hate is Jeanette Marquez, who recently moved with her mother and father from New Jersey and now works in her father’s grocery store. “We’ve lost loved ones to the pandemic,” she said, while her mother looked on. (Lancaster County has had three days of more than 100 new COVID infections in the past week, including the county’s highest-ever daily total, 117 on Friday.) “Maybe someone else can handle this better, because Trump’s ignoring it.” Marquez is excited to be in a state where she feels her vote finally matters. “But no matter who wins,” she said, “we raised our voices.”

A few miles down the road at a funeral home that’s serving as a temporary polling place for two different districts, another Biden voter stopped to talk. “Trump’s got a celebrity mentality,” said Clarissa Stewart, a massage therapist with her young son in tow. “It’s all paparazzi and bullshit. You never know what the truth is.” She voted in person, not by mail, because she read something on Facebook that said, “Would you mail $500 in cash to yourself?” “I wouldn’t do that,” she said, “and I wouldn’t mail my ballot either.”

Donna Depasquale was also accompanied by her son, but he’s a lot bigger than Stewart’s; college student David Robinson, a good foot taller than his mom, voted for the first time during lunch. “I’m a proud mother,” Depasquale said. They both voted for Biden. “There’s a lot riding on this,” Robinson said. “I’m excited and nervous to be voting in Pennsylvania.”

“We tried, but we couldn’t persuade him,” another mother said. She meant her college-aged son, who accompanied her and her husband to the polls for his first time voting in a presidential election. Mom and Dad voted for Trump; son voted for Biden. “We’re taking him out of the will,” she joked. “Don’t write that down.” She said she was happy her son was voting, and happy he had educated himself on the candidates. Asked why she voted for Trump, the mom, who is white, said, “I think Trump’s done amazing things for minorities! He really has their best interests at heart. He sees all Americans as equal. I don’t know where people get the idea he doesn’t.”

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Her son wanted to vote for Bernie Sanders but has been pleased to see Biden adopt some of Bernie’s policies—“He’s sort of gotten on the bandwagon,” he said. “Stuff like college education, health care, corporations being able to pollute without consequence.” He’s not enamored of many Trump supporters, he said, while his parents looked on. “They’re really putting him on a pedestal. Glorifying a man like that, I can’t get behind that.”

“There’s been a lot of discussion in the family,” his dad said. “Not convincing, really. Everyone’s minds are made up.” Asked their names, husband and wife demurred, shy Trump voters at last. “It’s his job,” she said. “They’d be weird if they knew who he voted for.”

“I’ll give my name,” said their son, the outspoken Biden voter. “I’m Bryce. I should be in college in Philadelphia right now but instead I’m making $10 an hour at the North Face store.”

• 2020 Campaign
• Pennsylvania