IHI HERALD
tN
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Election Night in
Raleigh: A Republi
can Student’s
Perspective
Maitlyn Healy, staff writer
Downtown Raleigh was popping
this Election Night as people gath
ered in nearly every bar and restau
rant to watch the results come in.
Walking around with fellow Herald
writer Jessica Feltner and English
professor Dr. Duncan, we stopped
first at the Republican Headquar
ters on Hillsborough Street. I got
the chance to volunteer to call
North Carolina voters to ask for
their support and encourage them
to vote in the wee minutes before
the polls closed. It was a great op
portunity to reach out and help the
Republican Party even if it did not
make much of a difference with
my one phone call to a Republican
lady who had already voted for
Romney earlier that day. We also
got the chance to interview a few
interns working for the Romney/
Ryan campaign. Austin Kendrick,
a political science major at North
Carolina State University, spoke on
how he enjoyed going door-to-door
to campaign more than making
phone calls. Austin also said that
he learned a lot of computer skills,
but more importantly people skills
while working for this pa^. We
also spoke to Conor, a 17-year-old
high school student who has been
volunteering for the Republican
Party. He said that he has enjoyed
seeing the large amount of behind
the scenes work that goes into
campaigning and how something
as small as wording in surveys sent
out can turn people off or excite
voters.
We then journeyed to down
town Raleigh and went to the
Raleigh Times, Democratic Head
quarters, and the Morning Times.
The Raleigh Times was covered
in Obama posters, and it is safe
to say that most customers were
Democrats due to the loud cheers
that emerged whenever it was an
nounced that Obama took another
state. The Public Record was hold
ing a non-partisan election party
at the Morning Times, which was
a refreshing change to the extreme
partisanship we encountered at
our other destinations. The atmo
sphere downtown was incredible
as we saw people of all ages, races,
and social backgrounds out togeth
er to support America, their free
dom to vote, and the opportunity
to voice their opinions.
Image via msnbc.com
President Obama Wins
Re-Eiection; McCrory
Wins Governor Race
Julia Dent, Editor in Chief
Polls opened early in North
Carolina on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m.
with long lines filling the building
until the polls closed at 7:30 p.m.
Meredith College students were
seen around campus donning “I
Voted!” stickers and t-shirts sup
porting their political parties.
The frenzy of election night
began when the first polls closed
at 7 p.m. As results started com
ing in, Mitt Romney took a quick
lead with 33 Electoral College votes
and Barack Obama took three. As
the night progressed, eyes were
focused on the main battlegrounds
in Ohio and Florida. The map of
New England quickly turned blue
as much of the south and Midwest
turned to red. The results for North
Carolina were slow to come in, but
the count finally came with Rom
ney winning 51 percent and Obama
winning 48 percent of the votes.
Obama took Ohio and the west
coast while Romney took Indiana.
Voters focused on battleground
states Virginia and Florida to
determine the winner of the Elec
toral College votes. The Democrats
took control of the Senate while
the Republicans took control of the
House.
The two presidential candidates
switched leads in Electoral College
votes throughout the night until
Obama officially passed 270 votes
around 11:45 P-m- By 12:30 a.m.,
Obama led the Electoral College
vote 290 to 203, and Romney led
the popular vote by a slight margin
with results from Alaska, Florida
and Virginia still not in.
Pat McCrory won the gubernato
rial vote, leading Walter Dalton 55
to 43 percent. For the N. C. House
results, G.K. Butterfield, Renee
Ellmers, Walter Jones, David Price,
Virginia Foxx, Howard Coble,
Richard Hudson, Robert Pittenger,
Patrick McHenry, Mark Meadows,
Mel Watt and George Holding
won their respective districts with
a Republican majority. The race
between Mike McIntyre and David
Rouzer from District Seven was too
close to call at midnight.
Note: The Herald staff stopped
reporting at 1 a.m. Any changes or
results occurring after that time
will not be reflected in this issue.
Election Night in
Raleigh: A Demo
crat Student’s Per
spective
Jessica Feltner, staff writer
When I arrived at the Obama
Headquarters with English Profes
sor Dr. Duncan and fellow Mer
edith Herald writer Maitlyn Healy,
we were greeted by the sight of se
rious faced volunteers, quietly eat
ing dinner and watching the results
come in. Five minutes later, the
serious moment suddenly broke
and after a moment of laughter,
everyone was back to work. There
was little interest in speaking to the
media and understandably, ev
eryone was extremely tightlipped.
Finally, volunteer Maiy Tetro was
able to take a few minutes to share
her experiences. Self-identifying as
a social democrat, Tetro explained
that to her women’s issues are
not just a social issue, but also an
economic one. For her, this elec
tion is extremely important be
cause the elected President is going
to appoint the next few Supreme
Court judges. She says that she
is “stunned at young women that
don’t pay attention to social is
sues.” Also drawing on volunteer
experience with the Obama Cam
paign of 2008, Tetro comments
that now the way they reach voters
is very different. Where they used
to simply use phonebooks, they
now use computer programs to
random dial voters. When com
menting on how she feels about the
outcome of the election, she is feel
ing anxious at Obama’s prospects.
The Raleigh Times, having prac
tically re-wallpapered its restau
rant in Obama posters, was filled
with people watching CNN results
come in accompanied by subse
quent cheering and booing. Next
door, at The Morning Times coffee
shop, the non-partisan media out
let, the Raleigh Public Record had
set up a result watching party. One
of their volunteers, Josue Terrones,
a political science senior at North
Carolina State University, has not
slept for the past three days due
to anxiety over the election. After
having gone around asking differ
ent people about the general feel
ings about the election, Terrones
found that he encountered a large
amount of voter apathy.
Having voted for Obama myself,
the anxiety was tangible, and for
good reason—the election’s major
ity vote was very close.