The song “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” might have come to mind for Joe LaMuraglia as he jetted down multiple highways to cast his ballot.
The Savannah man drove from Boston to Georgia last week to cast his vote after his absentee ballot never arrived.
He had planned to be one of the more than 100 million Americans who cast their votes before Election Day. Unfortunately, his absentee ballot did not arrive to his home while he was away quarantining with his partner in Massachusetts during the pandemic, the 52-year-old told the “Today” show. The registered Democrat had requested his absentee ballot at the beginning of September.
LaMuraglia, a marketing executive, said his local election office mailed his ballot Sept. 18. He later found out it was inadvertently sent to Virginia, a state he’s never called home.
He drove about 15 hours to his early-voting polling location in Savannah last week. It took him about an hour to cast his vote last Thursday.
“I believe the Democratic ticket has my best interests at heart. But this election isn’t about Democrats and Republicans. This election to me is about the future of this country,” he said.
During the long drive, he listened to some podcasts, “yacht rock” on SiriusXM radio, drank a lot of coffee and made phone calls to some of his more long-winded friends, he told The Boston Globe.
“There’s nothing easy about 15 hours,” he said. “I know a lot of kids who wouldn’t be able to handle the seat time that I put in.”
He was not the only Georgian to make a valiant trek to secure their vote.
Georgia Tech student Hannah Tindall had to drive through five states and more than 800 miles to vote Tuesday. Her absentee ballot was damaged before she could send it off, so she opted to vote in person on Election Day instead.
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