Today is the day candidates and voters alike have been waiting for and culminates months ““ and perhaps even years ““ of political anticipation.
It is Election Day, and in between classes and other daily activities, thousands of students will participate in the electoral process by casting their vote for the candidates and propositions of their choice.
The campus offers several different locations for registered students to do so, including Hedrick Hall, Rieber Hall and De Neve Plaza.
Students living off-campus in the Westwood Village apartments have the opportunity of voting at nearby off-campus locations, including 515 Landfair Avenue and 947 Tiverton Avenue.
Students who are unsure of their designated polling pace can check their official voter information guides or check online at LAvote.net/locator.
Michael Nguyen, a first-year neuroscience student, said he lives in Dykstra and plans to vote in De Neve Plaza.
“Location-wise, at least for me, it is very convenient. It’s probably a two-minute walk. I’m sure there will be lines there to wait in, but I think that’s just part of the political process and that’s kind of a way of feeling more involved,” he said.
Nguyen said this will be his first time voting, and he looks forward to wearing the “I voted” stickers given to voters as they leave the polling place.
He said this is an exciting time because he feels many people of the younger generation haven’t historically been as involved in the election process.
“It’ll be interesting to see how my generation votes. Hopefully it’ll be a big turnout,” he said.
“It’s an amazing feeling. You are involved in the government and you get to have a say in what happens.”
Rob Kadota, assistant director of the Office of Residential Life at UCLA, said he encourages students to vote as early as they can and preferably during the middle of the day when the lines at the polling places will not be as long.
“Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. is probably the recommended time for students to come back up to the Hill and vote. If the line is long in the morning, I’d say to come back during lunch,” he said.
Kadota said thousands of students are expected to vote and he has been working with USAC since Welcome Week to register students.
“USAC has reported that we’ve registered over 8,000 students, which is double the number of registrations we’ve had before,” he said.
He said ORL staff have been trained and given both nonpartisan and partisan voter information guides to pass on to students.
In addition, student staff have been instructed to share and post voter information on bulletin boards throughout the Hill.
Additionally, students look to other resources to educate themselves about the measures on the ballot.
Allison Smith, a third-year physiological science student, said she has been educating herself about the propositions on the ballots by researching them on the internet, reading her official voter information pamphlet, watching CNN and watching campaign advertisements on television.
Regardless of how students vote, Kadota said he believes it’s important for students to vote.
“It doesn’t matter what they vote for, as long as they vote,” he said.
“It’s really important that they’re seen as a group that carries clout but if they don’t register or actually vote, they don’t carry any weight when politicians are making decisions.”
Katota said in addition to voting, students can take part in the political process by attending several viewing parties on campus.
He said there will be a large viewing party for election results on the Hill at the Tom Bradley International Hall from 7 to 11 p.m. Tuesday evening.
In addition to this, there will be several informal viewing parties in several locations on the Hill, including Dykstra 8, Hedrick 5 North and the Rieber Terrace multi-purpose room.
Elizabeth Kivowitz, a UCLA spokesperson, said there will also be a viewing party held at the Los Angeles Tennis Center Clubhouse from 4 to 10 p.m. Between 500 and 600 students are expected to attend.
Some other students are taking more time off from their day to vote.
Smith said though she lives in an apartment in Westwood, she is going to drive back to her home in San Bernardino County after class to vote at her polling place.
“I got the registration in too late so I didn’t get it in time to get an absentee ballot,” she said. “With traffic it’ll be two hours, so hopefully I’ll get there in time to go vote.”
But other students have opted to vote by absentee ballot.
Josh Kuntz, a second-year chemical engineering student said he already sent in his absentee ballot a couple of weeks ago.
“I’m from Santa Barbara, so instead of having to drive home or re-registering every year, I think the absentee ballot is just the easiest way to go about it,” he said.
Kuntz said that though this is his fourth time voting, he thinks this election is the most exciting politically.
“I’d say out of the years I’ve voted, this is probably more controversial so it gives me more of an opportunity to express myself,” he said.
He said he feels indifferent about the presidential election and is mainly concerned about the California state propositions.
“I feel like a lot of the major things that the presidential campaigns are focusing on really don’t affect me at this time or over the next four years,” he said.
“They will have less of an effect than some of the local props and referendums will have on me.”
However Nguyen said he believes the presidential election is more important even though he thinks voting for the state propositions is important because it affects Californians directly.
“Ultimately it’s the president who is going to have a say in what happens in California,” he said.
Kadota said ORL doesn’t have a role at the polling place, but staff will help with crowd control and will make sure they are good hosts to the county clerk officials running the poll stations.
“Hopefully we’ll see lots of “˜I voted’ stickers,” he said.