Students Vote Tuesday, With Little Excitement

Hundreds of students cast their votes in Tuesday’s presidential election, but many said they were less than excited about the candidates on the ticket.

Voting booths were set up in two buildings on Harvard’s Cambridge campus: the Graduate School of Design’s Gund Hall and Quincy House. After polls closed at 8 p.m., the ballot-counting machines reported 599 individual votes cast at GSD and 436 cast in Quincy House.

For some students, Tuesday marked their first time voting in a presidential election. Matthew A. Weissman ’17 and Michael A. Cubeddu ’20, both first-time voters, said they found the experience of voting “exciting.”

“Now I have the famous sticker,” Cubeddu said, pointing to the “I Voted” sticker on his shirt, as he left Gund Hall after voting.

Many, however, said they were apathetic about voting for either of the two major party candidates: Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

Kevin Blacutt ’20, who identifies as a Democrat, said he chose to vote for a third-party candidate because he was “disillusioned” with Clinton and said his vote was insignificant given that Massachusetts was likely to be called for Clinton anyway. Had he been registered in a swing state, he said, he would have voted for Clinton.

Blacutt added that he thought Clinton would win the race for the White House at the end of the night, which he termed “definitely better” than the alternative. Eighty-seven percent of surveyed Harvard undergraduates said they would vote for Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, according to a survey The Crimson conducted last month.

Weismann also said he was lukewarm about the Democratic nominee. When asked how he felt about a Clinton presidency, Weismann replied that he would feel relief that “it’s not Trump.”

“But [a female president] is good as well,” he added.

As he exited Gund Hall Tuesday afternoon, Theodore N. Motzkin ’19 said he was “determined” rather than excited to cast his vote. He said he was unimpressed by both candidates and found the current political climate “demoralizing.”

“You just feel it, that people have lost a lot of faith in the political system to provide them with candidates that they really feel like they can get behind,” Motzkin said.

Other students disagreed. Raymond Cen ’17, who said he voted for Clinton, noted that, if social media was any guide, most of his friends at Harvard supported Clinton.

“I think people are really excited about the opportunity to elect the first female president in history,” he said. “I feel pretty good about it.”

Cubeddu and Law School student Alex Kochian echoed Cen’s sentiments in expressing admiration for Clinton. Kochian said she recalled reading Clinton’s biography when she was younger and thinking Clinton was “a powerful woman.” She added she would “feel great” if Clinton were elected.

When the clock hit 8 p.m. and voting officially closed state-wide, Winnie Williams, a voting official who spent the day distributing ballots at Gund Hall, paused for a moment to reflect on the difference between this presidential race and the one run between Barack Obama and John McCain in 2008. Williams, who also worked as a voting official in 2008, said she remembered an electric buzz that year.

“People aren’t excited now,” she said. “There’s a big difference because people now, they’re all so angry. That’s the best word for it, angry.”