Halloween may have come and gone, but residents across Hampshire County still find themselves with feelings of fear and dread as the U.S. presidential election nears.

“I’m so scared,” said Becky Morris of Easthampton. “I think our whole country, our whole way of living is at stake.”

On Tuesday, voters in Hampshire County and across the nation will head to the polls to, among other things, decide who will be the next president of the United States. Regardless of who wins, there will be a new president in White House — either Democrat Kamala Harris, the current vice president, or Republican Donald Trump, the preceding president.

Since President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race on July 21, polls have shown a neck-and-neck race between Harris and Trump, with results in seven key states including Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona likely to decide the outcome. In Massachusetts and in Hampshire County, Harris is expected to win handily, with polls showing her having a 25-point advantage in the state and 72% of Hampshire County voting Democrat in 2020.

But many local residents interviewed for the story said the thoughts of the election has them in quite a discomforting state. Local residents and early voters described feelings of anxiety, terror and general worry over the outcome of the election, citing the divisive and sometimes violent rhetoric used in the campaign, and the possibility the country could see a repeat of Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building aiming to prevent Congress from certifying the election victory for Biden.

Joy Howard of Florence, who cast her vote for Harris, said she’s turned off the news over the past several weeks, although she admitted it was impossible to completely tune it out. She said she voted for Harris out of support for bodily autonomy, and for protections of the rights of religious minorities and LGBTQ people.

“I feel terrified. It’s far too close than it should be,” Howard said. “[Trump’s] vision doesn’t reflect the views of the majority, and it’s terrifying to think so many of his followers share the same view.”

Mary Lou Kresge of South Hadley said stress relating to the election has affected her physically. She shared how she has had a harder time sleeping, and that she only eats one meal a day — which on Wednesday was a cup of coffee, a bag of Lays chips, and a muffin that she never touched as she spoke.

“If the party I’m voting for doesn’t win the election … that’s what I’m nervous about,” Kresge said. “My stomach’s too nervous. Everybody is nervous.” Kresge expressed fear for America about how Trump supporters will respond if he were to lose.

Fears of election-related violence were also expressed by Bridget Doyle, a Holyoke resident who said she was voting for Harris.

“I don’t like her opponent [Trump]. Never have. And then the insurrection happened and I really didn’t like him,” Doyle said. Despite the stress of the pending election, Doyle said she was consoled by the “prospect of having a female president for the first time in our history,” which she sees as “very exciting.”

For those voting Republican in the election, and who believe Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, there also remains a nervousness about the election.

“I’m worried the Democrats are going to steal the election again with voter fraud,” said Sandra Kellogg, who cast her vote for Trump in Easthampton. “It’s a big problem with me that you don’t have to show an ID to vote — it’s just a disgrace.”

Alysa Grisé, also of Easthampton, said she was casting a vote for Trump due to her opposition to “big government.”

“We’ve made a seat that was supposed to be for anybody a way bigger deal than it should be,” said Grisé, referring to the presidency. “The fact that so many things said by Harris are so provably lies, it’s disgusting to me.”

The tensions and divisive rhetoric that has marked this election season has even made it to this part of the country. In Hatfield, a resident who moved to the town in 2021 and had a Harris sign on his yard received an anonymous letter telling him “we do not want your kind here.”

At Hatfield’s Memorial Town Hall, town resident Matt Steinberg, who cast an early voting ballot on Thursday, said a consideration for his vote for president is to have more moderation from the next occupant of the White House.

“I think this kind of rhetoric in America has been going on now for a decade, it’s been really hateful, and one of the candidates is more bombastic than the other,” Steinberg said. “Bringing the heat down is important.”

One floor below at the Hatfield Senior Center, Charlie O’Dowd fretted over the election results and if the final result would be honored by the losing party.

“I hear so many false truths and such vitriol,” O’Dowd said. “One side is prepared to go to war if their candidate doesn’t win.”

He cited news reports of ballot boxes being set on fire in the states of Oregon and Washington and threats and intimidation toward voters. “It’s un-American to my life experience and the way my parents and grandparents raised me,” O’Dowd said.

Senior Center Director Gerlayn Rodgers said she understands that many of those who drop by the site for meals, events and activities are nervous. “Anxiety is higher, but people are trying to keep it in,” Rodgers said. She said a major fear for seniors is having safety nets stripped away, such as Social Security or Obamacare, as well as rights women have earned over the years.

A noticeable uptick in election-related anxiety and stress has also been noted by those working in the mental health field.

Rachel Rocklin, a Northampton resident and a graduate student for mental health counseling at Westfield State University, said the election has become a topic for patients she’s worked with in her current internship.

“Every single person I’ve seen has said they’re worried about the election,” Rocklin said. Asked how she personally felt about the election, Rocklin responded, “I’m horrified.”

At Clinical & Support Options, a nonprofit behavioral and mental health center with offices in Northampton, Greenfield and Athol, there has been a “sharp increase” in crisis-related calls over the past two months, according to the organization’s CEO Karin Jeffers, something she attributed to anxiety and stress related to the election and political news.

“People are not necessarily associating it with the election — they’re not conscious that it’s associated,” Jeffers said. “But what we’re seeing is an increase in anxiety, irritability, inability to sleep, that are associated with those diagnoses … I think it’s reasonable to make that connection of what’s happening.”

Hampshire County residents certainly aren’t alone: In a recent annual poll conducted by the American Psychiatric Association, nearly three quarters (73%) of survey respondents reported feeling anxious about next week’s election.

Jeffers said those feelings of anxiety and stress can come from being inundated with news from radio, television and online, as well as the fears regarding the consequences of the outcome. Jeffers said she encouraged people to step away from the constant media coverage, and to connect with like-minded individuals for support.

“If you know that somebody perhaps does not see the world in the same way as you, that might not be the person you wanna reach out to in the next couple of weeks,” Jeffers said. “Rather, get some support, and sleep is so important, eating healthy, staying away from overuse of alcohol or other drugs.”

One person who has prioritized his mental health this election season is Dan Corliss of Granby. He said he invested a lot of energy in 2016, when he supported Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump, but has since said he tries to avoid the media and not get caught in social media algorithms.

“For me, it’s just about being mindful,” Corliss said. “If you’re not doing self-care, and you don’t have good awareness, it’s easy to go into that rabbit hole.” Corliss said he identified politically as fiscally conservative and socially moderate, although was acutely aware of social issues due to having a trans child.

Richard Gorman, a U.S. Navy veteran and Springfield native who currently lives in Hatfield, said he’s been a political observer for so long that he’s not going to be affected by the outcome, and that it will be “the same old, same old.” Still, that didn’t stop him from expressing some concerns about the election.

“After 88 years, this is the most confusing election I’ve seen,” Gorman said. “You’ve got an idiot running, and a normal person running, and so many people are going to be voting for the idiot.”

Despite any fears the election may bring, residents still saw the need to fulfill their civic duty to contribute to democracy by casting their ballot.

“There’s a lot that I care about,” said Peter Mulvey of Northampton, who cast his vote on Friday. “It’s worth working towards what I want for my family, my neighbors and myself.”

Staff writers Scott Merzbach, Alexa Lewis and Samuel Gelinas contributed to this story. Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.