Voice from election day polls: ‘I’m tired of both parties fighting’

It wasn’t a particular issue or a certain candidate that drew Mike Klein to a Costa Mesa grade school on Tuesday to vote. Rather, the 54-year-old stay-at-home dad was driven by a feeling that the entire nation needs change.

“The country, the county ...” he said. “I’m tired of the same old, same old.”

He voted for Mitt Romney for president, he explained, because he’s the “lesser of two evils.”

“I’m tired of both parties fighting for the party and not the country,” he said.

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But he chose Romney because faith is important to Klein. “I guess I know more about him than I know about Obama’s faith,” Klein said.

As a former smoker, Klein said he voted for the cigarette tax. He said his father died of lung cancer on Christmas Eve 1999 and he is determined not to let his own daughter “make the same mistake.”

Jessica Mancilla, a 20-year-old student, showed up at Rea Elementary School to vote for the first time Tuesday. Her interest? Simply to exercise her right.

“Every person’s vote is important,” she said.

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This story was reported by Times Staff Writer Nicole Santa Cruz.