Emmanuel Gears Up for 2012 Election
November 06, 2012
With the polls now open and the 2012 Presidential Election officially underway, students and faculty are continuing to ensure that the Emmanuel community is ready.
At 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. today, students from Emmanuel's Political Forum, History Club and Model United Nations, along with faculty from the Department of Political Science will gather to "walk to the polls," located in the Simmons College library. Leading up to tonight's election results, the groups will co-host an election night party in the Jean Yawkey Center's Maureen Murphy Wilkens Atrium from 7:00-11:00 p.m.
The events are the culmination of a busy few months for the faculty and students involved. During the fall, the groups organized multiple voter registration drives, resulting in 175 registered voters on campus, and hosted events to watch the presidential and vice presidential debates, which were well attended by students. On November 1st, the political science department hosted a panel discussion titled "What's at Stake for Massachusetts' Voters?" to discuss issues affecting state voters, ballot questions, presidential, senate and congressional races.
This summer, The College sponsored Kristina Capo '14 and Peter Morency '13, who attended the 2012 Republican and Democratic National Conventions, respectively, as part of an academic seminar series offered through The Washington Center, the largest independent, nonprofit academic internship program in the country. As part of the two-week program, students "examined the role of national political conventions in the process of nominating and electing a party's candidates for president and vice president of the United States." Students took part in a weeklong academic seminar before being placed in volunteer fieldwork positions with their respective parties during the convention to gain firsthand knowledge of the election process.
Following the election, Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential candidate and three-term Governor of Massachusetts, will come to campus to discuss "Campaign 2012: Issues and Outcomes." The lecture will take place on November 16th at 3:30 p.m. in the Janet M. Daley Library Lecture Hall.
Polls will be open today from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.
