Stanford students had Election Day off from class. Many of them spent it at the polls.
A campus holiday for voting
Tuesday, Nov. 3, was Stanford's sixth annual Democracy Day, a university-wide academic holiday on Election Day "when classes pause and students come together as a community to vote," according to Stanford Report. The nonpartisan, student-run event is led by a 16-member committee and about 50 volunteers. Programming was centered on White Plaza, and an election-night watch party was planned at the Arbor Live Stage behind Tresidder Memorial Union.
Busy polls
John Bard, Vote Center lead at Tresidder Memorial Union, told The Stanford Daily that Tuesday was the center's busiest day so far. "Every vote counts," he said. Because California allows same-day voter registration, students registered in another state could still register in person as Santa Clara County residents and vote on campus.
Gorman, a debate and a watch party
Poet Amanda Gorman gave the morning keynote at Dinkelspiel Auditorium and read her poem "The Sacred Scene." She pushed back on the idea that voting in a deep-blue state doesn't matter. "I vote so the world that died to get me here has a voice in today," she said, according to the Daily.
In White Plaza, students on the left and right debated immigration, diversity, the Iran War, SNAP and AI at an "Across the Aisle" event moderated by the Stanford Political Review. By early evening, Democracy Day staff were setting up the watch party at the Arbor. "It's looking pretty contentious," organizer Supriya Patel told the Daily.
No results had been released when this story was published. Polls and vote centers close at 8 p.m.