Texas man travels 1,200 miles from Los Angeles to vote

Voters cross vast distances to cast their ballots

A Texas man working in Los Angeles drove more than 1,200 miles to vote after he did not receive an absentee ballot.  

Jeff Wilson, who works in Los Angeles but lives in San Antonio, started his journey home on Sunday afternoon so he could vote early this morning.  

“If I’m gonna drive 1,217 miles and sleep in my car for a few hours, I think there aren’t a whole lot of excuses to drive three or four minutes to the polling station and maybe wait a while,” Mr Wilson told CBS Local Los Angeles.

Mr Wilson's story is not a solitary one.  

On the east coast, a man drove from Boston to Savannah, GA, and back to ensure he could cast his vote. His trip was more than 2,000 miles in total. He spent more than 30 hours in his car, alone.

According to the Boston Globe, Joe LaMuraglia moved to Boston to live with his partner at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.  

Mr LaMuraglia is registered to vote in Savannah - where he owns a home - and decided to request an absentee ballot rather than make the trip back during the pandemic.  

Unfortunately, his absentee ballot never arrived.

“They looked it up, they were able to track it, and they had the street address and they had the zip code right," he said. "But they had the state wrong — they sent it to Virginia.”  

He asked election officials if he could simply receive a new ballot, but told himself if he did not he would force himself to make the trip and cast a vote.

“I look at voting as an obligation,” he said. “It’s my job as a citizen."

Mr LaMuraglia said he passed the time on his 15 hour drive by listening to music, podcasts and chatting on the phone with his friends.  

The 52 year-old said that 15 hours is a tough drive, regardless of who you are.

“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."

Ultimately the strain of the drive was worth it for Mr LaMuraglia. He made it to Savannah and was able to cast his vote this morning.  

“That was a lot of freakin' effort, but I could not sit this one out," he said. “It was just too damn important.”