Photo of students watching presidential election
Photo courtesy of: Jessica Wikander
BY: JESSICA WIKANDER, STAFF WRITER
Tuesday was Election Day, and for many students, this marked the first presidential election they were able to vote in. To bring students together from all political backgrounds for this momentous occasion, the College Democrats and Republicans teamed up to host the election day watch party in the Rathskeller.
“This campaign season has been one like no other, so it is important to see who wins,” said Chloe Wilson, a junior public health major and the College Democrats Club President. “For most of us, this is the first presidential election that we could vote in. It is important to see how your checkmark influences the next four years.”
Last spring, the College Democrats and Republicans put on a Rock the Vote party to encourage students to register to vote and educate them on the upcoming local, state and federal elections.
The watch party included free refreshments. Every screen in the Rathskeller was tuned in to the live polling results and many students even had their own election maps pulled up on their phones or laptops to compare with.
Multiple students expressed that their friends had an influence on their attendance at the watch party as well. Freshman adolescence education major, Makayla Kuras stated that her friend, Olivia Francis, was the reason she decided to come to the watch party.
“We come to the Rathskeller pretty much every night anyways, so I figured why not watch the election while we eat,” said Francis, a sophomore social justice and advocacy major. “Watching this election and knowing that I actually voted, and I could help swing things, I thought I should watch the live election results and see how it turns out.”
Students from all sides of the political spectrum were in attendance, and they seemed to reach a common consensus: our focus should be on coming together as a nation rather than what drives us apart.
“The division is horrible and I think both parties think that,” said Sean Benacci, a sophomore strategic communications major. “We need to remember to keep talking to each other. It’s definitely important to remember that everyone is bigger than just the parties that they identify with.”
The watch party ended before the results were officially in, so students were still seen throughout the night conversing with their peers and intently watching the live results.
“Whoever is decided to be president will run the country differently, with differences in views of presidential power and federal government involvement in everyday lives of Americans,” said Matthew Nicolazzo, junior political science major and College Republicans Treasurer. “As students, we should be interested in politics because soon we will be in the ‘real world’ where we will want jobs, families, businesses and houses and politicians play a large role in the legal and regulatory world.”
wikandjm23@bonaventure.edu
