Students across campus met in various community centers to watch election returns last night. The mood was hopeful for some and defeated for others as results came in.
“It should be interesting to see how it turns out,” said Jason Clemmey ’06, who watched election projections in Noyes Community Center.
Most students agreed that the election would not be settled in one night because of the close nature of certain races.
“Florida and Ohio … it’s going to come down to them,”Jason Bender ’08 predicted. “There’s a good chance we might not know tonight,” he said.
“I think his [Kerry’s] chances depend entirely on Ohio,” said Andy Pollock grad.
“I think it’s going to continue. They were talking about a few states that had a lot of absentee ballots they have to count. … I think Thursday, but I’m hoping it ends before then,” Clemmey said.
“I don’t think it will be finished tonight … it’s too close to call,” said Andrew Mceachin ’07. For supporters of both Bush and Kerry, the spectre of the 2000 election remained a memory and a point of contention.
“I mean I think everybody knew it [the 2004 presidential election] would be very close, I don’t think there was any doubt about that. After the last election … there are a number of people who think that the election was stolen after the Supreme Court vote,” said Bender, who voted for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in Pennsylvania.
“I thought the [2000] election was fair, I thought they did it in a good way and they took every measure to make sure it came out that the right candidate won,” said Dana Lampert ’08, who voted for President George W. Bush by Massachusetts absentee ballot.
One student speculated that while the election may be hotly contested, the country will heal its wounds from the recent polarized negative campaigning.
“I think it’ll be questioned … I think people will accept it though,” said Vivian Wright ’05.
Lampert agreed. “I think whoever wins will be accepted by the American people,” he said.
Archived article by Eric Finkelstein and Erica Temel
Sun News Editors