The Elm Student Newspaper
ELECTION 2000: Students vote, react to tight presidential race
Becca Tyson and Jonathan Ratican
Students gather around a television set to
hear the latest election news. As of
Wednesday night, no winner had been
declared in the presidential race.
Photograph by Angela Sammons, Elm photographer.
Washington College students got what was some of their first experiences of being involved in a real election on Tuesday, November 7. For many WC students, this presidential election was their first opportunity to participate in a national election.
"This was my first time to vote in a presidential election," said sophomore Jennifer Corwell."I thought that the whole experience of waiting for the polls and praying that your candidate won each state was exciting. There is only one night every four years that a person can take part in a [presidential] election, and it is privilege that people shouldn't take for granted."
Most students, however, didn't have the experience of going to an actual voting site. Because relatively few WC students are registered to vote in Chestertown, many students had to use absentee ballots.
Some students found this absentee voting a little bit of a nuisance, and declared that without the actual voting booth, the absentee voting infringed on their ability to have the more traditional voting experience that most Americans encounter.
"I think that the whole process of the absentee ballot is a little confusing to those people who don't even know where to begin," said sophomore Leora Ramiro. "I was lucky that Washington College provided an absentee ballot service, so I really didn't have to deal with it that much. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to go to the polls.
"I just think it would have made it a more genuine experience to actually go into a voting booth," she continued.
All in all, though, the students at WC were buzzing with excitement -- like the rest of the nation -- as the results came streaming in as each state's polls officially closed.
"I thought the whole experience of crowding in a room waiting for each state's results to come in made the night go by fast," Corwell said. "It is amazing how involved people get in the election on that one night, when they haven't even really paid it much attention for months."
The excitement over the election wasn't just buzzing among the students who voted, but WC international students took a real interest in this year's election as well.
"I thought it was extremely interesting," said sophomore Nada Hashmi. "I was particularly impressed by the way that the tension kept mounting all night long after each state would announce its winner. It was a little confusing because of the way that the exit polls would give one candidate a state and then retract it and give it to the other candidate, but I thought that the whole night was very special since this is the first American election since I came to WC."
Many students found it difficult to follow along with the results because the networks kept changing the status of some important states.
Based on early returns from some voting districts, combined with data from exit polls, Florida's electoral college votes were originally predicted to go to the Democrat's presidential candidate, Al Gore. But that prediction was taken back a few hours later, and Florida was placed back in the "too close to call" category. In the middle of the night, most officials projected a win for Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, and Florida's votes were shifted to Bush's column. However, not long afterward, the networks retracted that statement as well and moved the state back into the "too close to call" category once again.
"It's amazing how many inconsistencies in polling places surface because of the closeness [of the election]," said freshman Ellen Fisher.
"I think it calls for polling reform."Not only are the inconsistencies with the polling under scrutiny by the public, but the small margin separating the two candidates raises some questions on whether or not the man elected is the true choice of the people.
"The closeness of this race compromises the validity of this next administration, whomever it may be," Fisher stated.
The final results of the race in Florida are still not yet known. By some accounts, there were believed to be only about 600 votes separating the two presidential candidates in the state. A race that close requires a re-count, according to Florida state law.
This has postponed the election results and kept the nation in waiting to find out who will be the next man to become the President of the United States of America.
At presstime on Wednesday night, the results of the Florida re-count were still unavailable. Nationally, Gore is reported to have garnered 260 electoral votes, compared to Bush's 246 margin, according to CNN-TV. However, either candidate could win Florida's 25 electoral votes and secure the total of 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
The popular vote tallies were also extremely close, with both candidates receiving approximately 49% of the vote. Gore does appear to hold a slight advantage in the popular vote, with 48,976,148 votes to Bush's 48,783,510 votes.
Ralph Nader settled in third with 2,670,235 votes and fell short of the five percent he needed to gain federal funding in the 2004 election, only pulling in two percent of the vote.
Maryland's ten electoral votes went early Tuesday evening to Gore with a 57% to 40% edge over Bush.
Senator Paul Sarbaines was re-elected over his opponent Paul Rappaport 67% to 37%. Congressman Wayne Gilchrest also held onto his seat over Democratic challenger, Bennett Bozman, 64% to 36%.
As of Wednesday night, Florida was not the only state whose results the nation was awaiting. The races in Oregon and New Mexico were still classified as "too close to call."
The 25 electoral votes in Florida, however, will be the deciding factor in the election, and lawyers for both campaigns have been making their way down to Florida to oversee the re-count.
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