Leslie Rossi, a landlord in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, painted her house like an American flag to raise awareness for Donald Trump and voting for his delegates. Despite being a political advocate for the first time, Rossi said she’s not afraid to deal with people damaging her Trump signs. (Photo by Emily Mills/News21)

YOUNGSTOWN, Penn. – Leslie Rossi painted one of her houses red, white and blue to look like the American flag. A Donald Trump banner hangs from the side of the house, and a Trump sign decorates the lawn.

The Pennsylvania resident said she’s never been politically active until now – and it’s not always easy for her.

When Rossi – a landlord who owns 48 properties – isn’t at her vibrant “Trump house” or at other properties where she’s put up Trump signs, she’s had to pick up the pieces from vandalized memorabilia. She once spent an afternoon scrubbing graffiti off a sign, and people have used boxcutters to destroy others.

People frequently steal lightbulbs that illuminate a giant sign in front of the Trump house, and Rossi said somebody came in the middle of the night and defecated on her sign.

“A little sh–’s not going to scare me,” Rossi said. “They want to take our voice away. They want to silence us. They don’t want us to do the things we’re doing because people are listening, and they don’t like that.”

News21 traveled to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and Mahoning County, Ohio, two areas where many members of unaffiliated Donald Trump advocacy groups said they weren’t politically active until the Trump campaign.

Rossi and her counterparts in Mahoning County – Kathy Miller and Don Skowron, among others – face scrutiny because of their beliefs, amplified by the controversies surrounding the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign.

Don Skowron, a retired police officer and steelworker, said he spends 12 hours a day creating signs to support Donald Trump. (Photo by Lian Bunny/News21)

“(Trump’s) going to be different, and I think that frightens people that are not supporting Mr. Trump,” said Miller, the Mahoning County chairwoman for Trump. “I think they’re a little frightened by his ability.”

Mahoning County’s movement is primarily aimed at reaching voters who either aren’t Republican or haven’t been politically involved.

Skowron, a retired policeman and steelworker, spends 12 hours a day making signs urging voters to “cross over” to vote for Trump.

“We are not the Republican Party,” he said. “We are ‘vote for Trump.’ We want to get the other people thinking. Kathy and I are … on a mission to get it done.”

Skowron said he’s been cursed at for putting up signs, and Air Force veteran Chad Jones – who’s helped Skowron build the “cross over” signs – said friends on his Facebook page have ridiculed him for his efforts.

“A lot of (Trump supporters) just kind of keep their opinions to themselves, but I know when they go in that voting booth who they’re going to vote for,” Jones said. “(There’s) fear of retaliation to some degree … so that makes even more people hush-hush about it.”

Rossi and Miller lead grassroots movements that have no official title, but these groups are gaining popularity as November’s general election approaches. Both said they align with Trump on almost all of his stances, especially with his views on the economy and veteran care.

“I just want something to get done. We just need a person who’s going to take care of the taxpayers and the citizens and do what’s right for this country,” Miller said. “I don’t think another candidate has come along that is willing to do what needs to be done.”

Rossi said she painted her house to promote Trump’s candidacy. She doesn’t live at the home, but she said once people see her truck pulling into the driveway, people flock to pick up signs and shirts.

Rossi said she uses those opportunities to educate others about Trump’s campaign.

“I did the Trump house for awareness,” Rossi said. “I didn’t realize people would love this house as much as they do.”

The house, which took three days to paint, has attracted national recognition: It’s appeared in posts from The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and CBS News.

“It’s definitely been a time to speak out, and we need to,” Rossi said. “I totally believe in Mr. Trump, in what he’s trying to do and getting America back on track. We need change. We’re really excited, and we’re doing everything we can to get him elected.”

Come back Aug. 20 to see the full News21 report on “Voting Wars.”

“The states can’t be trusted to keep their voter files safe,” Braun said. “Until states start taking information security seriously, I don’t ever feel like I’ll be able to register to vote.”

Braun is passionate about politics – she once lived in Chicago for a year to work on the Barack Obama campaign – but she said she won’t vote in the foreseeable future.

Braun has described herself as an outspoken feminist and frequently tweets about equal rights and politics.

Pet peeve of semantics: Women in USA in 1920 didn’t *earn* the right to vote. We always had the right. Women defeated a type of oppression.

— Aki the Conqueror (@gesa) June 18, 2016

But others have heckled her on social media, and she fears particular heated harassers might find her home address leaked online from her voter registration information.

“Since voter rolls aren’t safe or confidential, I am not (registered) to vote at my new address,” Braun said. “Online harassment has disenfranchised me.”

When she lived in Chicago in 2012, she was still registered at her former address in Milwaukee. Braun said she requested an absentee ballot and followed up twice, but she still didn’t have a ballot by election day.

Braun’s boss convinced her to leave work to go vote in Milwaukee.

Braun boarded an Amtrak train at 8 a.m. and arrived in Milwaukee about two hours later. By lunchtime, she was back at her desk in Chicago.

“That was a tough day. My whole trip was five hours, and I went straight back to work,” Braun said. “I was in my hometown for a grand total of 45 minutes.”

This story was informed by a source in the Public Insight Network. Share your voting experience here.

Hundreds of them died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

She remembered the man who played Santa Claus at the office Christmas party. She thought about the 26-year-old who started with the company just six months prior. She especially grieved her workplace mentor who wore a “brilliant” diamond necklace.

“Gone,” said DiMaio, 56. “I don’t know if everything was pulverised, but I remember wishing her daughters would find that necklace.”

Because of her habit of voting early in the morning to avoid long lines, DiMaio wasn’t on the 95th floor in the North Tower with those coworkers. She worked as an information technology consultant at Marsh & McLennan Cos., which occupied eight floors.

She went to vote in the mayoral primary election scheduled for that morning. Then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani couldn’t run for office again because of term limits.

DiMaio, who wanted to participate in what she thought would be an exciting election, said her day started uneventfully. She voted at the poll inside Public School 8 in Brooklyn and boarded a subway to get back to work.

But when the vehicle reemerged from underground, she saw billowing smoke and a herd of people looking up.

“It was like a morbid fascination,” DiMaio said.

In all, 295 employees and 63 consultants at Marsh & McLennan died, including all of the employees on the 95th floor.

DiMaio, who also said she spent 10 years with the New York Fire Department, attended countless funerals and sent even more sympathy cards.

She often listened to stories that she now puts in two categories – people who shouldn’t have been in the tower but were and people who should have been in the tower but weren’t.

Her story fits in the latter category.

“I don’t totally feel survivor’s guilt,” DiMaio said. “It’s not so much as it should have been me as it is it shouldn’t have been anybody.”

A few of her coworkers also avoided death by circumstance. The man who usually sat in front of her was nicknamed “Mr. Early,” but he didn’t make it to work on time that morning because he paid a speeding ticket. Her boss got in the elevator but never went up, and rescue workers later pried him from the elevator, she said.

DiMaio wasn’t “insanely close” with her coworkers, but the deaths still sting. Her company relocated to Hoboken, New Jersey, and she stayed with the organization until 2007.

New York postponed its primary and held it Sept. 25. Republican Michael Bloomberg won the election in November.

Years later, DiMaio still goes early to the polls. Voting is essential to her.

“Voting means participating in democracy,” DiMaio said. “Even if one doesn’t like the choices, vote anyway. Take the time to let politicians know we’re watching.”

This story was informed by a source in the Public Insight Network.