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Mother of Tamir Rice urges people to vote

Tamir would have been old enough to vote in this election.

CLEVELAND — On Sunday, the family of Tamir Rice urged others to vote.

Just 12 years old in 2014, Rice was shot and killed outside the Cudell Recreation Center by Cleveland Police. This election marks the first in which he could have voted.

His mother reminded others of why participation matters.

"Vote to make America better for all Americans, all races, colors, religions," Samaria Rice said. "We are one. We are one America. Let our vote be our voices."

Ohio is among the tightest battleground states, with polls showing the candidates in a statistical tie. On Monday, Joe Biden will return to Cleveland for the first time since the presidential debate last month. Kamala Harris, his running mate, was here just a week ago.

Their campaign has stepped up ads in Ohio, while President Trump remains optimistic along the campaign trail.

"I think we’re ahead of Ohio from four years ago. and we won by eight," Trump said Sunday, despite all major polls indicating otherwise.

The turnout in Cleveland could play a role: Cuyahoga County is a Democratic stronghold, and one in four voters is Black. Yet in 2016, the African American turnout for Hillary Clinton was far less than it was for former President Barack Obama. Councilman Basheer Jones knows that the party depends on those votes.

"African Americans have had that undue pressure here in America for a long time to be the ones to forgive and to be the ones to stand up for others even though we haven’t been stood up for," he told 3News.

Ohio has gone with the winner of every presidential election since 1964, when President Lyndon B. Johnson beat Barry Goldwater in a landslide. College student Kyle Cmich is voting for the first time in 2020.

"A lot of people say, 'Oh, in the grand scheme of things, millions of votes, one doesn’t matter,'" he said. "But one vote starts to make up that million, so I think it’s definitely important to make sure that vote counts."

Monday marks the final day for early in-person voting before Election Day on Tuesday. The hours are from 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

    

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