Falcon Feelings Post-Election: Roberta MacIvor

Riverdale Review: Did you vote in the 2024 election?

Roberta MacIvor: Yes, I did

RR: How long have you been voting and how many elections have you voted in?

RM: The first election I voted in was Al Gore and George W Bush.

RR: What were some of your reasons for voting in this election?

RM: Women’s rights. I was thrilled that there was the first woman [presidential candidate] running. I had an interest in the Supreme Court and trying to shift the direction it was going. I wanted to get someone in [office] who wouldn’t continue to enforce what was the conservative happenings on the court. 

[Also,] environment – taking steps to care and change the environment and taking it seriously. …it’s bizarre to me that some people aren’t prioritizing it. [Also,] making sure transgender rights are protected, making sure LGBTQ+ people feel safe, moving in a progressive direction as opposed to going backwards. Pro-choice and always prioritizing a woman’s right to choose and keeping it a private situation. It’s just a woman’s choice and I don’t think anyone else should be involved in it or put rules on it. So protecting women. Racial equality. Treating people like human beings in terms of immigration and migrants... Basically a good person, I was interested in. Someone that supported my views and was strong and capable and experienced and I feel like the person I voted for embodied those characteristics.... I’m a big animal rights advocate too and I don’t want to see someone’s son holding wildlife that they killed. Those images are important to me and somebody who says things like making fun of differently-abled people and thinking it’s funny.

RR: What were your initial thoughts and takeaways following the election results?

RM: I was shocked. I truly was shocked. I actually thought it was going to be a landslide the other direction. I was humbled; it made me think, “Do I live in a New York City bubble?” But then my family is in Maine and Massachusetts and share my views. That’s kind of what I knew to be, in my vision, the norm. And then the results came in and they were the opposite of what I value and what the people nearest and dearest to me value.