UNC Election Night Party

            Election night, past gyms full of students running and playing basketball, the UNC Rec Center was holding an election results party. On one end of the gym, in front of bleachers, was a large inflatable screen showing CNN coverage of live election results.

            When the party started at 7, a few students sat on the bleachers, but more were milling around the gym. There was a table full of pizza and sodas as well as several games students could play to win tickets for prizes like sunglasses and gift cards: trivia, pin the tail on the donkey and elephant, red and blue “sumo” wrestling, flying disc toss into slots with President Obama or Governor Romney’s photos on them.

            As the night wore on, though, the crowd at the bleachers grew larger and louder. When a candidate was projected winner of a state, their supporters would cheer and wave their plastic slappers. The block of students for Obama was larger, but a vocal group supporting Romney formed as well.

            While the results came in students on both sides of the aisle were excited, but nervous too. “I am excited but I’m also fearful,” said junior art and design major Samantha Valenzuela, an Obama supporter. “I feel nauseous, I really do,” said junior accounting and elementary education major Africa Kosky, a Romney supporter.

            The energy was certainly high, and students in attendance expressed belief that the election matters and the outcome had the potential to change their lives. Both Valenzuela and Kosky were active during the campaign, even seeing the candidates speak in person.

            “I voted for President Obama because he stands up for students, he stands up for women, he stands up for all the things that will build a better economy,” said Valenzuela, adding that she found Obama very relatable when he spoke in Fort Collins because he said he had only paid off his student loans a few years ago.

            Kosky was equally enthusiastic for Romney, having met him as well as Paul Ryan and both of the candidate’s wives. “Where do you even get started?” she enthused about her belief in Romney,  “he doesn’t want to take away Obamacare completely, just alter it so our taxes can be more beneficial.” In addition to healthcare reform, Kosky finds Romney relatable because of his faith and family values.

            For much of the evening the results were trickling in, leaving the electoral count for each candidate fairly stagnant. Then the numbers started pouring in, and President Obama was projected to have won his bid for re-election. The gym erupted in cheers and moans. Party attendees hurried out through the rest of the rec center, where students not attending the party were frantically checking their phones and telling friends the results of the election. Outside people yelled “Whoo!” and “Obama won!”