What Minnesota voters are saying about election

— "I just believe in his policies, much more so than Mitt Romney's. . I do believe that we are moving forward. . I think voting for Mitt Romney is just going to put us behind." — Laurie Leung, 48, of Bloomington, a compliance manager in health insurance. She voted for Obama.

— "I do believe that people should have the right to marry the person they love, and I feel pretty strongly about that one." — Leung, explaining her vote against the gay marriage ban.

— "I don't like the direction we're going now. Too much debt. Kids will have to pay for everything -- tax increases to pay for everything. Right now it's not really rewarding people that want to work hard, to make a buck. Because it kind of gets redistributed anyhow, no reason to really go out and work really hard to make money, in a small business or something like that. And that's that." — Bob DeYoung, 54, an engineering technician in Bloomington. He voted for Romney.

— "He's actually done the change he talked about for this country, and maybe he can do more if we give him a chance. He's done a lot to get back to work and he's done a lot for seniors." — Allen Johnson, 56, a landscaper in Minneapolis.

— "It's too easy to walk in here with a piece of paper and just vote. I believe you should have to prove that you're an American and that you have the right to vote." — Johnson, explaining his vote in favor of photo ID.

— "I don't want gay marriage. I think it is wrong." — Assan Shire, 20, a college student in Minneapolis voting in his first election.

— "Obama had a chance but here we are." — Mohamed Mohamed, 40, a cab driver in Minneapolis who went for Obama in 2008 but was switching to Romney.

— "I believe a man and a woman is marriage." — Mohamed, who voted for the gay marriage ban.

— "I'm a Democrat. Democrats give us welcome here, they give us freedom. All minorities are Democrats and all the rich are Republicans. Republicans don't know my life." — Ali Mohmud, 37, a driving instructor in Minneapolis. Mohmud said he never seriously considered Romney and dislikes Paul Ryan because "he wants to cut everything government does."

— "I don't think he's the person to fix the economy — he wants to take us back to Bush policies and I can't believe people forgot already what that was like." — LaToya Elliott, 27, of Minneapolis, on Romney.

— "You can't tell someone who to get married to, period. Who you love is who you love." Elliott, on the marriage amendment.