U.S. expats with Sask. connections watching 'stressful' election closely

U.S. expats in Saskatchewan are watching Tuesday's election closely. From the presidential battle to senate races to concerns about unrest in the streets and the rights of women, their attention is locked in.

Heather Ross is originally from Southern California and lives in Saskatoon. Her parents still live in California and she visits them often.

Ross was able to mail in her ballot. She said it was a smooth process because the state of California makes it easy. 

"This is even worse. Absolutely more stressful than four years ago," Ross said.

She said she voted for Kamala Harris because of some of Donald Trump's stated plans.

"He's talking about mass deportations, tariffs against other countries, shooting the media," Ross said. "I think if he does half the stuff he's talking about, the world's gonna be in a terrible spot."

She said she will also be watching U.S. Senate races, which could shift the balance of power if the Democrats win a majority. She said state legislatures are also incredibly important.

"Abortion's on the ballot in a lot of places. So seeing what people are going to do about that."

CBC reached out to several Saskatchewan people who previously spoke about supporting the Republicans, but they declined requests to be interviewed.

"I was full of a lot of righteous anger and rage on Friday night when I was wheeled into surgery, because my prognosis in many states would have been death," sais Aurora Marinari, who is originally from Buffalo, N.Y., but now lives in Regina.

Marinari was more than six weeks pregnant when she found out she had an ectopic pregnancy, which means a fertilized egg growing outside the main cavity of the uterus.

"I was at the top of the list for surgeries on Friday. I did not have to wait long at all because my procedure was seen as emergent because the embryo had grown to a certain size," she said. "At any point my fallopian tube could have ruptured and I would have bled out and died."

Marinari said she fears that women's and 2SLGBTQ+ rights will be trampled upon if Trump is re-elected. Marinari said that whatever happens in the U.S. also affects people in Canada. She pointed to MPs and MLAs in Canada who want to restrict access to abortion and reproductive rights.

"I just really hope that Americans make the right decision tomorrow," she said. "I just hope that we can continue to move forward and not backwards."