Updated as of 4:26 p.m. on Sept. 12 to include video of the event.
Fifty-six days away from the election, Elon Votes hosted a watch party for the first 2024 presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in Moseley Student Center on Sept. 10 to get students engaged in the general election.
This is now the 10th year that Elon Votes has hosted watch parties for Elon students, Lindsay Bialecki, Elon Votes student coordinator, said.
“We've been doing them since we started in 2014,” Bialecki said. “We do them for State of the Unions, debates, basically anything that is a primary address to our nation or involves politics.”
Elon Votes had free pizza, cups and pens and bingo cards that included potential topics that could come up during the debate such as China, taxes and reproductive rights. The bingo cards provided by the Phoenix Policy Institute, a student-led research organization that hosts events and publishes analyses on policy issues.
According to a sample bingo card, a viewer would have gotten bingo based on the following topics or incidents coming up or occurring during the debate:
- Fake news
- Foreign policy
- Tim Walz
- Inflation
- Healthcare
- Insulin costs
- Trump assassination attempt
- Reproductive rights
- China
- Second amendment
- Crime
- Russian/Ukraine
Bialecki said Elon Votes was excited by the student turn-out for the event; around 100 students were at the event — with both the student center and the Oak Room filled with people.
“We kind of had in our head that there was going to be a lot of people, just from what we had heard,” Bialecki said. “We're really excited that everyone's here. People are excited about this election. They're excited to vote, and that's a really great momentum we're hoping to take into November.”
Freshman Charlotte Von Huene said she decided to come to the Moseley Center so she could be around other students.
“I just thought it would be more interesting to watch it with my peers and just see what people's reactions are,” Von Huene said. “Also, just sit with my friends and do the bingo. I think it's really cool that it's kind of a good way to connect and everything.”
Sophomore Eden Perry also said she wanted to be around other students during the debate.
“I just thought it would be really cool to be around other people right now, as we watch this amazing, terrible thing happen to our country,” Perry said. “I also just want to support Elon Votes. I think it's important that everyone gets out to vote. Everyone gets out and knows how to vote, and they're doing such a really good job at doing that.”
While some students were focused on being in the company of others, sophomore Catherine Dierker said she wanted to come out to engage with politics at Elon.
“Politics is really important and I think that it's our strict duty to be informed voters,” Dierker said. “With things like the presidential debate, it’s really important in being informed.”
Bialecki said that Elon Votes hopes to continue to host more watch parties as Election Day approaches. She also said the organization will continue to help students register to vote — either in North Carolina or in their home state.
“We're hoping that this is just the kickoff,” Bialecki said. “There's a vice presidential debate on Oct. 1, we're hoping to have a watch party if and when there's a gubernatorial race debate for North Carolina. So we're hoping that this helps students realize who the candidates are, realize where they stand on policy, and if they feel inspired by what they have heard, come register a ballot, and we will help them cast their ballot.”
For more information on registering to vote, visit the Elon Votes webpage, or go to its in-person office in the Kernodle Center for Civic Life in Moseley 232.