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Election season looked and felt very different this fall semester

Every two years during the national election season, campus is flooded with campaign volunteers registering students to vote and rousing enthusiasm for the election. 

I remember my first semester at CU in the fall of 2016 when I was stopped by a volunteer by the C4C who registered me to vote. Two months later, I hitched a ride in a golf cart to the UMC from Kittredge Central, and I voted for the first time using my BuffOneCard as my personal identification.

Many Buffs past and present share my experience; however, the 2020 election broke with the traditional pattern. Instead of being waved down and assisted by organizers on campus, many of us were reminded to vote through social media. Some student organizations resorted to chalking and Zoom events despite the fact that most students weren’t on campus to take note.

As a consequence of social distancing, the urgency of the election was harder to see. Still, given COVID-19, the effects of climate change and the demonstrations surrounding racial injustice, I think many students had at least a sense of the weightiness of the election. 

This year, just as students had to adapt to life at home, Zoom classes and social distancing, the way American politics works had to adapt too.

The first presidential debate saw audience members wearing masks and sitting apart from one another. The vice presidential debate introduced plexiglass between Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence to increase safety as a result of COVID-19 circulating through the White House. President Trump refused to attend the second presidential debate, instead resorting to two separate town halls hosted by both presidential candidates, and the last presidential debate was hosted by journalist Kristin Welker, a moderator more assertive than the first, featuring a now infamous mute button.

Like many of my fellow classmates during the 2016 election, watching the debates and the results on election night was something I enjoyed with company in my dorm’s lobby; however, gathering to view these spectacles was something none of us could afford to do this semester.

On Nov. 3, 2020 voters cast their ballots in person. As Colorado is a largely vote-by-mail state, most Coloradans had already cast their vote by election day. It took until Saturday Nov. 7, for the race to be called for Joe Biden right after he flipped Pennsylvania blue. The delay in results for states like PA was one of numerous factors that made the 2020 national election a historic one.

Campaigning, voting and debating differed from previous elections due to the global pandemic. One of my favorite parts about being on campus during election season was that political candidates often travelled to campus to speak to students. I had personally seen Sen. Bernie Sanders and Gov. Jared Polis speak on Farrand Field during the midterm elections in 2018, and in Oct. 2015, before I started at CU, a Republican presidential primary debate took place in the Coors Event Center. 

This is also the first time an American presidential candidate has refused to concede the election after numerous and reliable sources have called the election for his opponent. President Trump’s litany of lawsuits and allegations are unprecedented in American politics. Both his refusal and his actions have generated skepticism in this American institution. 

And lastly, as Sen. Kamala Harris was elected to the office of vice president, she became the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to be elected to the executive branch of the United States.

Nearly four years ago I wrote an article titled, “The Impacts of the Trump Administration”, that discussed how our 45th president’s policy plans could affect engineers in various fields. Since then, so much has changed for all Americans including my fellow Buffs. For some, the political climate these past four years has been distressing. For example, some of my international colleagues at CU have struggled to obtain and retain their student visas with ever changing and stigmatizing restrictions being put into place.  For them, a transfer of power brings with it hope for a different future. 

I hope that the next four years bring about positive change for my fellow Buffs. I have hope for racial and gender minorities, for our international student populations, and for our climate. While I may not be here to document the next presidential election, the Colorado Engineer Magazine, CU ��«����Ƶ’s longest student-run publication, will always be here to report on this great American tradition. 

Photo: “Trump & Biden” by ekaden is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0