Election Night Party Will Feature Food, Games, Prizes, and Voting Results

An Election Night Party will feature free food, games, and prizes while participants watch election results 8 p.m.-midnight Tuesday in the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights auditorium (room 104).

For information on polling sites, hours, required ID, and guided walks to the polls, see the Calendar of Events on the Lafayette web site.

The party is sponsored by Holla Back: Your Voice Your Vote, a coalition of students and organizations committed to creating an informed voting community. The group has publicized and/or coordinated many election-related events this fall, including an Election Extravaganza last Tuesday in the Farinon Center atrium. Ten organizations sponsored information tables, including the College Democrats and College Republicans. Students participated in activities and picked up material related to various candidates in the national, state, and local elections.

A highlight of the Extravaganza was a mock election held by Lafayette Activities Forum. Among the 438 votes cast, 61% were for Kerry and 34% for Bush. Sixty-four percent of the voters were women.

The full results:
Constitutional, Michael A. Peroutka: 1
Democratic, John F. Kerry: 269
Green, David Cobb: 13
Libertarian, Michael Badnarik: 2
Peace and Freedom: Leonard Peltier, 1
Republican, George W. Bush: 149
Write-in: 3

The Class of 2007 had the most voters with 124, followed by ’05, 110; ’08, 109; and ’06, 95.

Other election-related activities at Lafayette have included:

• A campus debate involving supporters of the Bush, Kerry, and Nader campaigns;
• A debate/dialogue between representatives of Jewish Republicans and Jewish Democrats;
• Brown bags sponsored by Lafayette Environmental Awareness and Protection on the presidential candidates’ environmental policies and the campaigns of the independent (Nader) and Green Party candidates;
• A talk by West Point law professor Patrick Murphy, recipient of the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq as a captain with the 82d Airborne Division;
• A lecture by John Glaser, grassroots manager for the northeast for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare;
• Screening of a webcast on involving students in the political process;
• A brown bag panel discussion on the politics of securing political internships;
• A talk by Ross Weiner, principal partner and policy director of The Education Trust, the key group behind development of the “No Child Left Behind” legislation;
• A lecture on foreign policy issues related to election politics by Neil Engelhart, assistant professor of government and law;
• A talk by Siobhan “Sam” Bennett, Lehigh Valley field director for America Coming Together;
• A brown bag on the importance of the minority vote in the presidential election;
• Several screenings of political films, including Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore’s documentary on the war in Iraq and alleged ties between the Bush and bin Laden families.