<ir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-a1ac7776-5452-0b35-4f23-01716d024ef3">Many Get Out the Vote and educational efforts were held on campus prior to and during election day. On Monday, the day before the election, Senator Al Franken, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Governor Mark Dayton, Lt. Governor Tina Smith, DFL Party Chair Ken Martin and St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman attended a rally and door knocking event on campus in an effort to motivate students to vote.
That same day, Carl Dems held an event to chalk the sidewalks around campus with messages reading ‘VOTE!’ with arrows pointing toward their polling location.
Additionally, the Carletonian and Carleton-based website Northfield Initiative both put out information about all the candidates running in the Northfield races, and other campus publications, like the Carl, published content about the election.
“I think most of what students have been doing on campus that’s been making the most difference, is just putting that information out there.
“Whether it is to just talk about where your polling location is, how to register, how are you eligible to register, what kind of information do you need, when are the polls open and how do you get to the polls,” Peter Bruno ’17, the Political Engagement and Activism Fellow for the CCCE, explained.
“The CCCE and the external relations office helped fund transportation for students who live off-campus because it’s so confusing for students at Carleton that there are three different precinct, meaning there are three different polling locations.”
Students on campus had many mixed emotions leading up to the election, with most people feeling some sense of worry about the results.
“I feel very anxious,” Bruno said. “I feel like a lot of people are also in that boat. A lot of what people are kind of worried about is whether the nation is going to be able to come back together after all of this. There is a bit kind of celebration because this however-month-long entertainment spectacular is going to be over. It’s just been theater the whole time and this is just the closing act.
“The historic value of tonight, either you get the first candidate who’s never held elected office in his life or the first female president. So it’s going to be a very historic night, something that people are going to remember,” Bruno said of his own feelings pre-election results.
Other students had similar mixed views. “It’s kind of hard how to sum up how I feel about the election. I supported Bernie Sanders during the primaries which, unfortunately, did not turn out so well for him. However, whether or not you think having someone who’s been a part of the political process for decades is good, Hillary Clinton is the most qualified candidate and I’d rather have her as my president than a racist and bigoted man with very little, if any, experience in politics. And yes, there are third party candidates, but to me, none of them strike me as viable options for the leader of the free world,” Adam Loew ’20 said.
Bomi Johnson ’18 said that she felt “like I entered a parallel universe in which the next apocalypse is about to begin. You know that song ‘I’m proud to be an American ’cause at least I know I’m free’? Well, I am a queer woman of color and that’s about to not be true anymore.”
Leo Martin ’18 expressed feelings of cautious hope, “I feel really excited because of the Klobuchar and Franken event. It’s been a roller coaster campaign in the past few days.
“However, I think the panic of last week seems to have been replaced by last minute optimism, though constantly reminding myself to not get carried away with the excitement because anything could happen tomorrow night. I keep thinking about Brexit. No one thought Brexit would happen, but it did. That’s why I’m trying not to get too excited or get my hopes up too high.”
Nam Nguyen ’19 summed up what seemed to be the undercurrent of the campus, saying she felt “slightly nervous,” then qualifying it with, “No, very nervous.”