Election Day

So, I know it's been a while since Election Day, but I wanted to detail our activities, because it was insane.

4:00AM- Yepp, you read that right, four in the morning.  We woke up (and by we I mean 17 people, not just me and my one friend) and met at the Davis ATMs for a literature drop.  We ended up splitting up into 4 cars, with over 100 yard signs, and over 2000 pieces of literature.  We hit up pretty much every apartment complex in Chapel Hill, so if you are a student living in the area, you knew it was election day the second you walked out your door.  It was incredible.  My car alone went to every door at Townhouse Apartments, Mill Creek, Stratford, Stratford Hills, Chancellor's Square, Airport Commons, and a few other complexes whose names I can't even remember.  All total, we were done by 6:30 when the polls opened and we had distributed all 2000 pieces of literature, as well as a majority of our yard signs.

9:00AM-6:00PM- Pit-sitting time.  We had a table set up right in front of Lenior all day to give out information to folks who hadn't yet voted but wanted to.  We had flyers with directions to every single polling location that a campus address could possibly go to, as well as information on how to vote provisionally at the Center for Dramatic Arts on campus.  We even gave dozens of people a ride to the polls, so those first-years without cars were able to go vote on election day.  We gave out literature again, as well as stickers and buttons so that those who had already voted could voice their support and encourage others to do the same.  I spent every waking moment I had in the pit, except for my 11 o'clock class which took attendance.  I even registered for classes for next semester while helping someone figure out how to take the bus down Highway 54 to their polling location!

6:00PM-7:30PM- Polling location.  On my way home from the pit, I stopped by my polling location on Roberson Street to help pass out information to any last minute voters.  So much fun, but so cold!  I have so much respect for the volunteers that work the polls, they have to know absolutely everything but get no respite from the marathon that is election day.

7:30PM-bedtime- Election party at R&R Grill.  After the polls closed, hundreds of students and townspeople alike descended upon R&R for our election night party.  We all gathered in the venue to watch the live results come in. We had TVs displaying both the national results (going state by state) and the North Carolina results (showing the winners of the NC house and senate, as well as numerous ballot initiatives- yay transit tax!).  It was an absolutely incredible night, punctuated by many victories.  All in all, it was a much better watch party than in 2010, as can be expected...

Anyway, election day was absolutely exhausting but absolutely incredible.  It was a culmination of years' worth of effort and organizing, a triumph on so many levels.  It fulfilled all of our hopes, desires, and wants that had cropped up during this tumultuous election season.  I'll post again to recap many of the individual races we were involved with, but truth be said, it was one of the happiest political moments of my life.  Til next time...

Pre-Election Day Updates

So I haven't updated here in a while, so I thought I'd recap our pre-election day festivities before coming back with another post about election day. 

Early voting was insane at Carolina, with Rams Head open from Oct 18 to Nov 3, we had a total of 9500 students vote on campus.  It was amazing; we were standing outside Rams Head everyday from noon to 7pm (when the polls closed) and simply herded people into the dining hall.  That was our strategy: simple, effective, and fun.

Speaking of fun, we had many events down in the Plaza.  Candidate for governor, Walter Dalton visited us to speak to a crowd of volunteers along with his wife and election team.  A couple of days later, Congressman David Price actually came and voted at Rams Head on Nov 2.  He brought with him Lt. governor candidate Linda Coleman; they both gave impassioned speeches that truly reminded us why we were volunteering.

It was a long couple of weeks, but we made it.  We had a great turnout and informed so many students.  I'll come back in a few days with an Election Day post; because that was one hell of a day.