Eyes were locked in on the ballot counts this evening as polling locations wrapped up their Election Day hours.
A Donald Trump cutout posed with thumbs up faced a room of 16 who joined a watch party hosted by University of Arizona College Republicans.
Students in MAGA hats and red T-shirts shared energetic conversations as their heads switched between a projection of NBC News’ election report and maps of red and blue on their laptops.
Just east of the union, roughly 30 individuals gathered around the projector in the Catalyst Studios inside the main library for the school of Government and Public Policy’s nonpartisan watch party. Many others passed in and out of the event, taking complimentary food and drinks while discussing with peers.
Immigration policy
Lalo Mercado, wearing a suit and adorning a cap reading “Trump Force Captain,” is the president of College Republicans. It was his first time voting in a general election and said he feels like an “empowered citizen.”
“I’m pretty excited, because I feel like when I was 17, I was very nerdy, very into it, probably knew more than most adults and I still couldn’t vote but that’s okay,” Mercado said.
His top two motivations for voting in this election were immigration and the economy. Regarding immigration, Mercado said: “I see it as unnecessary evil to have people that are coming in here and don’t belong here and just committing whatever crimes. And while I understand it is not most of them, none of them have to be here and they could otherwise come here legally.”
Lenise Joseph, a graduate student at the UA, said she backed Trump in large part because of his economic and border policies.
“Our borders are out of control. They need to be closed now,” Joseph said. “We have people right here in our country who are hurting and need help, but all of these resources are diverted away from the people who need help the most here at home to illegal immigrants who should not be here.”
UA faculty member M’Balia Thomas sat in the back of the SGPP event, quietly watching the polling results coming from her home state of Georgia.
“It’s really too early to have any real firm thoughts on what’s going on, so I’m just kind of watching the results as they trickle in,” she said as another round of results were being released.
Thomas shared her concerns about how the election results could impact the UA.
“I teach a program that has a lot of international students. My fear is that if you end up with a president who is very anti immigration, that it would directly impact my job and the students that I work with and how comfortable they feel,” she said.
“I’m deeply invested in making sure that I have a president who would allow our campus to be as diverse as it is,” Thomas said.
Loyalty to former President Donald Trump
Joseph, a lifelong Democrat prior to the 2020 election, said her party affiliation changed after comments made by President Joe Biden in the lead-up to the election that said “If you don’t vote for me over Trump then you’re not Black.” Since that point, she has never once questioned her support of former President Donald Trump.
“Well, they never got my vote. And surprise, surprise, I’m still Black,” Joseph said.
Tyler Resh, another UA student in attendance at the College Republicans event, voted for Donald Trump. Resh said that decision would have proved differently if he had been old enough to vote in the primary election.
“If DeSantis was still in it, I was considering voting for him. But I still would have ended up voting for whoever the Republicans nominated, just because I agree with them more than the Democrats,” Resh said.
Community engagement and political tension
Joseph was encouraged by the sheer amount of community members who voted, and encouraged voting engagement throughout the week and today.
“I’m really glad that my fellow students on campus are voting, and I’ve seen the lines out the Santa Cruz room, and I was just glad, yes, yes, people are voting. That’s good, because those are our futures on the line. The fate of our country is on the line. And I’m glad people are taking the time to take that seriously,” Joseph said.
The majority of students seated at the SGPP event in the library were quiet and reserved, watching the second wave of poll results come in from NBC News. The seats in the studio were filled and chairs were being pulled around the projector.
Lingh Truong, a graduate student in attendance, expressed a hopeful outlook on the night’s outcome for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I am very optimistic so far that Kamala Harris will win the election,” Truong said. She smiled for photos with her friends as they sat in front of the projector during the early poll results.
Wait times at the nearest Election Day polling place to campus, the First United Methodist Church, were at times over two hours long.
Political violence has been a key topic of conversation throughout the 2024 election cycle.
“It’s all bad. It shouldn’t be happening, but it’s hard to prevent it because people can only say so much, and law enforcement can only do so much,” Resh said.
Whatever the results of the election may be, Mercado said he believes there will be political violence in the aftermath.
“I think political violence is pretty typical now. I think people are polarized and when people are polarized they don’t see the alternative as being suitable,” he said.
Joseph said that she also agreed with the sentiment that political violence will increase with the election results
“I do think that there’s going to be more political violence as a result of this election, more than the typical one […] That’s still something people need to be concerned about especially if you’re an elected official,” Joseph said.
While reaching across party lines has typically been a struggle for voters in this election because of increasing polarization, Mercado was able to agree with Democrats in regards to Social Security.
“In respect to Kamala, I tend to not agree with virtually anything. In fact, I’d say if I had to pick anything I agreed with her on it would be maybe I think the Democrats when they say they need to raise the taxable income on Social Security, that just seems like a fair thing in my head,” Mercado said.
Initial projections show a tight race between presidential candidates Harris and Trump in Arizona.
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