The Division of Student Affairs presented their 2024 Election Watch Party on November 5, 2024 in the Smith Brown Memorial Union Cotillion Ballroom at 7:11pm. From the start of the event, the room was fairly empty. Around 7:35p, students started to make their appearance, whereas students from The Southern University NAACP Chapter greeted students with an opportunity to enter in a free raffle where students had the chance to win prizes to franchises such as Doordash and Chipotle.
In the center of the ballroom, the projector streamed WAFB’s Channel 9, Baton’s Rouge’s local news broadcast, showcasing the live stream from CBS and local elections such as the Mayoral Candidates, councilmen, and parish-wide leaders. As the polls closed at 8:00pm, The Office of Student Media had the pleasure of speaking with Senior, Political Science Major, Courtney Spears, expressing her eagerness to vote early and attend the watch party with her friends.
“I’m not gonna lie, i didn’t want to be in my room watching this depressing, political mess.”
When stating the importance of this event, she continued, “I came because, why not? My homegirls were here, there’s food, and honestly… I just didn’t want to find out alone.”
How does the decision for our nation’s President & Vice President come into fruition? Well, the decision is measured by the Electoral College. Each state has a specific number of electoral college votes—two votes from the two members representing the state in the US Senate + the number of delegates equal to its representation in the House of Representatives. A candidate aspiring to become the next US president needs an absolute majority of 270 or more votes out of 538 electoral college votes.
Catching up with the Director of the Smith Brown Memorial Union, Cedric Noel, Noel stated, “The turnout with this event is actually really great, where I can say that I’m proud that students are participating in this type of event.” Mr. Noel even shared that he’s had the pleasure of hosting former President Barack Obama’s campaign on November 4, 2008 in the very same ballroom.
The biggest reaction from the event was not the lead from presidential candidates, Donald J. Trump and Kamala Harris. However, from our mayoral candidates. Students boldly reacted in shock at the results between the announcement of a runoff between incumbent Democrat Sharon Weston Broome and Republican Emile “Sid” Edwards. The election will be on Saturday, December 7th, 2024.
Despite the time leading into 10pm, Dean & Director of Student Conduct, Kelwin Williams, presented on the mic the unfortunate news of the Watch party having to come to an end. Trump had just won Idaho (214 electoral votes) and Harris (179 electoral votes) won California and Washington. Williams, a native of Baton Rouge and event coordinator shared that, “Because of lack of lack, we had to cut the event a little short. Hopefully in the future we can move this event into a bigger space and invite our community partners.”
6 hours later, CBS & The Associated Press, predicted that our 47th president would be Donald J. Trump around 4:34am in the morning. Trump won Wisconsin with 277 electoral votes and Harris trailing behind with 224 electoral votes making Trump the nation’s 47th official president for the next four years.
According to the Associated Press, the majority of latino and caucasian voters both male and female were the cause of Trump’s overall win. Harris didn’t give her speech at Howard University, where her political career began, however Trump gave his victory speech at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Palm Beach, FL. Inauguration will occur on January 20, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
