Amidst recovery from midterms and the demand of day-to-day schedules, Election Day still loomed over San Diego State University’s campus. The constant lines wrapping around Love Library’s voting center towards the main walkway onto Hepner Hall were hard to miss. At the Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center on the opposite end of campus, students also made the pilgrimage to vote.
This election is proving to have high interest nationwide and among SDSU students. For many voters, the divisive election between former President Donald Trump and current U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is considered vital to the future of our country. The race is also merited as historic since Harris would be the first female president and first president to have Black and Southeast Asian heritage.
At SDSU, this election is not only special because of its weight, but for many students, this will also be their first time voting for a presidential candidate. These students represent a greater population of 8.3 million newly eligible voters across the nation, with great power to act on issues they care about.
Top of mind for many first-time voters was their presidential vote
“I’ve always been very passionate [about politics] and so I’m just happy, like my first time voting, I get to vote for a woman, and I think it’s really cool,” said 18-year-old student Skylar Harmon.
Joshua Waidstreicher, a 19-year-old first-time voter, expressed his excitement to vote despite a “dicey” contest between candidates.
“I just wanted to voice my opinion because there’s no other place really to do that,” Waidstreucher said. “And with the vote, I feel like I can have a say on how this country is going to be ran.”
Among students, research leading up to their vote widely varied
“I’m a debater, so I kind of really critiqued what I got out of the screen,” another 18-year-old first-time voter, Alejandra Morales, said.“I did that, and then I obviously was looking at a lot of different rallies.”
A group of students who waited in line for over an hour were confident about their knowledge of the presidential candidates and local propositions because they spent time and did their research.
According to Darla Burkett and Isaiah Palomarez, both first-time voters, they only found two propositions confusing.
“For those, we just had to do extra research,” Burkett said.
“But it’s not that much more research to understand … it takes five, ten minutes out of your day, so it’s not really hard to find,” added Palomarez.
Waidstreicher, however, said he found it hard to research and be properly informed on the presidential candidates.
“To find an independent source, to have no bias within it is honestly pretty hard to find. So that’s kind of why it was hard for me to find research,” Waidstreicher said.
The consensus among students was stress and concern over the outcome
When reflecting on the impending results, Wondimu Weinberg-O’brien, a first-time voter, recalled how one of his class discussions surrounded potential reactions to a Trump loss and the potential for his inability to concede victory once again.
“I don’t know if I’m scared, but I’m more interested in how things are going to turn out,” Weinberg-O’brien said.
Kiara Speek, another first-time voter, said she had been stressed and terrified. She texted her mom and friends for support most of the day. One source of stress is learning about the conflicting views of the people around her.
For some, this stress isn’t just perceived as an isolated event.
“I [have] seen that other schools are doing, like, the next day they have the day off, just because of the stress levels,” Waidstreicher said, “And it’s crazy how it’s come to that — where an election causes people so much stress.”
Desiree Anglin and Jake Brubaker, two seniors at SDSU, mentioned that after dropping off their ballots, they planned to watch the election unfold later that evening.
“Even though it might go super late, we’re just gonna stay up,” Anglin said.
“I don’t think I’m sleeping,” added Brubaker. “We’ll just see how it goes.”For those interested, click this link to view election results across San Diego County.
As of 9:20 p.m., 43.1% of voters had participated, but county officials were still counting ballots. Harris had a significant lead over Trump locally, but she was trailing him in federal Electoral College votes.
