Photo by Jake Przytarski Members of “We Make Minnesota” and Marshall Area Peace Seekers stand on the corner of West Main Street near Memorial Park holding signs and waving the American flag to show support for counting every vote.

MARSHALL — With flags waving and pro-democracy signs held high, members of the “We Make Minnesota” organization and Marshall Area Peace Seekers joined together at Memorial Park on Saturday to show their support for the democratic process of counting every vote in this election.

The crowd gathered at noon for the event, mere hours after the Associated Press and other major news outlets officially declared Joe Biden as the President Elect of the United States. Marshall resident Candace Thomas said she attended the event in part to celebrate the result, but also to show her support for the democratic process.

“I am here for the celebration, but also all of the voting needs to be recognized,” said Thomas. “I want to thank every single poll worker and volunteer and person across the United States for the work they’re doing to see that our democracy is working and the votes are getting counted. So that’s the big reason I’m here today.”

Thomas held a picture of her son, Staff Sgt. Adam Thomas, who was killed in combat in Afghanistan on Oct. 4, 2016, as she shared what the celebration and dedication to democracy means to her.

“Our son Adam came. Because he was killed on October of 2016, he didn’t get to vote. But I know his vote would’ve been very different from what the outcome was in 2016, and he would be very happy today,” said Thomas. “So, my husband and I brought him so he could be part of the celebration.”

“If we don’t allow the process to happen we dishonor every person that has ever served our country,” Thomas added.

Sherwin Skar, a mathematics professor at Southwest Minnesota State University, was also on hand to show his support.

“We think that it’s important to count all of the votes, even though the election was just called moments ago,” said Skar. “It’s just important that we have an election where we can be assured that our vote will count, and is not going to be thrown away by the courts or something like that.”

For Will Skar-Jones, the result of the election offered a sense of hope, though work remains to be done.

“I’m so ready for something good to happen,” said Skar-Jones. “We’ve just crossed a major milestone this morning and we’re almost to the point where we can take a breath before we have to get back to work, and I’m just really looking forward to getting to that point.”