Election fever seized parts of campus and Collegetown Tuesday night as some students put aside their homework to watch results trickle in.
On West Campus, students gathered in the dining halls of William Keeton House and Hans Bethe House to watch television coverage of the elections, while in the libraries, others shut their textbooks and opened up their laptops to track the election.
John Bacchus ’15 said he has been sitting in Libe Cafe for the last hour fixated on the elections.
“I love this stuff. When the election is on, I’m on my computer … I’m constantly leaving [the library] and arguing with people and just enjoying it,” Bacchus said. “Because of that, I really haven’t done that much work.”
Although some professors have said that there has been surprisingly little buzz about the election on campus this year, Bacchus — a government major — said there has been plenty of chatter about the election in the last few hours.
“Now that it’s Election Day, everybody has something to say, whether they know a lot about the election or not,” he said.
Liz Carey ’13 said that she has found it hard to concentrate on anything but the election on Tuesday.
“I’ve been following the elections pretty much all day,” she said, adding that she and her housemates have sat down to watch MSNBC cover the elections throughout the night.
“Most of us are pretty excited, but we’re a little bit nervous,” Carey said. “I’m doing no school work tonight.”
Nathaniel Root ’14, an Obama supporter who has been checking Politico and CNN’s polls, said he did not see himself doing much work tonight, either.
“Oh right, homework … that’s what I was doing,” he said.
But Andrew Chien ’14 said that not all Cornellians will be closely following the election.
“I think it depends on how you talk to,” Chien said. “I was just hanging out with some people [who are electrical and computer engineering majors]. I can’t say they’re very excited. But I’m pretty sure the political science people are following it because my Facebook is blowing up.”
Though Chris Spencer ’14 said he will watch the results “till the bitter end,” he also said he does not believe students are generally excited about the election.
“Most of the people I know are relatively disillusioned with this election,” Spencer said. “I know a lot of people who have told me flat out that they don’t get a patriotic feeling when they vote. They do it because they feel they have a moral obligation. They don’t think it makes much of a difference.”
Original Author: Kerry Close