As the culmination of months of preparation, hundreds of
speeches delivered and hundreds of millions of dollars spent,
Election Day has arrived.
Though President Bush and Sen. John Kerry have campaigned at
breakneck paces of late, the outcome of the election now rests
squarely on the voting public.
With a polarized electorate in an evenly divided race, many
expect voters to show up at the polls today in record numbers.
States with early voting have already seen a huge turnout.
Beyond going to the polls and voting, the UCLA community and
people across the country have prepared for today in myriad ways
and have planned many events.
The Bruin Republicans and Bruin Democrats will hold a joint,
bipartisan barbecue today to celebrate the election.
Kristina Doan, the president of the Bruin Democrats, came up
with the idea for the barbecue over the summer, and the Bruin
Republicans agreed to participate.
Doan said she and others have worked very hard during the
campaign in preparation for today.
“Everyone has put in so much work,” she said.
“There have been moments when it was overwhelming.”
She added that she will be relieved when the election is
over.
As part of their “Drive the Vote” campaign, the car
company Scion is providing free rides for UCLA students from
Ackerman turnaround to various polling locations. “Drive the
Vote” is sponsored by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and rapper Sean
“P. Diddy” Combs’ “Vote or Die”
campaign.
“We want to make sure that everyone can get to the
polls,” said Earl Johnson, a spokesman for “Vote or
Die.” “We know students here have voting locations
around Westwood, so if they want, we can drive them
there.”
Johnson also said if students can provide proof they voted in
the dorms, the drivers will drive them to Westwood for “food
or to run errands.”
Some groups of people volunteered their homes or businesses as
polling places, including Westwood Horizons Hotel, a retirement
home and area fraternities.
“(Monday night) is the night when we clear out the living
room,” said Vincent Ho, a third-year economics student and
president of Christian-based fraternity Alpha Gamma Omega, which
offered their house as a polling place.
“Any public space needs to be clear of any propaganda or
bias,” he said.
The polls will be open today from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.
For many across campus, voting is the most important event they
will undertake today.
Noah Gutierrez, a fourth-year psychology student, who will drive
to his West Covina home to vote, has highly anticipated
today’s election.
“It’s ridiculously important,” he said.
“I’m losing sleep over it.”
Mike Wendland, a fourth-year political science student, said the
elections take precedence over preparing for his Wednesday midterm.
He said he will gather together with a group of friends and shoot
toy darts at the television screen when Republicans appear
on-screen.
While local elections are important to some, most voters have
their sights set on the outcome of the presidential race.
“It’s all about the president,” Gutierrez
said.
As for the candidates themselves, both Bush and Kerry have made
intensive last-minute swing-state pushes ““ focusing on
Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania ““ in an effort to push their
electoral vote count over the required 270.
Despite polls showing California voters heavily favoring Kerry
over incumbent Bush, UCLA students specifically and California
voters in general have not let poll numbers deter them. The County
of Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk has said over 4
million people in Los Angeles County alone have registered to vote
for this election.
But not everyone will be changing their schedules for
today’s election.
Many students say their professors are holding class and
midterms today.
Antony Minasaghan, a third-year physical science student, said
he did not plan on voting because neither candidate appealed to
him. He said his midterms were more important to him than
voting.
With reports from Natalie Banach, Brent Kampe and Jed Levine,
Bruin senior staff.