By Sahana Jayaraman
The energy in the room was, in a word, palpable.
It was only 6:55 p.m. — 25 minutes after the election watch party was slated to start — and around 40 students had already gathered in the Stamp Student Union’s atrium. Their voices bounced off smooth walls and empty chairs, bleeding into the hallway beyond, informing passersby of their enthusiasm and their anxiety, their worries and hopes.
For student David Polefrone, a sophomore biochemistry and economics major, pre-election jitters competed with excitement about the impending midterm results.
“The last election I watched [in 2016] was really surprising and pretty horrifying, so I think for this one, I’m still in a little bit of PTSD mode” said Polefrone, who was one of the first 50 students to arrive at the watch party. “But at the same time, I’m excited, because I’ve seen a ton of turnout on this campus—and while that’s a small, small part of the picture that we’re going to see nationwide, it’s a promising start.”
The watch party, which ran from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night, was co-sponsored by TerpsVote, Maryland Discourse, Ignite at Maryland and MaryPIRG.
According to TerpsVote representative Gideon Epstein, the party was organized to celebrate the results of a midterm election that boasted a record-breaking voter turnout.
“We just wanted to give our entire coalition—as well as any students interested—the opportunity to come together and just learn about the results of the election altogether…no matter what the results of the election are, we can all come together and celebrate democracy a little bit,” said Epstein, a junior government and politics major.
Many student attendees were attracted to the event by the allure of being around their politically interested peers. One such was Caroline Larkin, a sophomore government and politics major unaffiliated with the event.
“I wanted to come to be around other people who care,” said Larkin, who is also involved in Maryland’s Air Force ROTC detachment. “Everyone here is someone who voted, and someone who has an opinion, and someone who wants to see their candidate win—regardless of your political affiliation, everyone here is here because they care, and I thought that was cool”
Indeed, the atmosphere of the watch party lacked the partisan tensions so often inspired by politics and elections. Rather, it was reminiscent of a kind of neighborhood block party, bringing together an entire community of young voters celebrating democracy.
By the time 8:00 p.m. hit and East Coast polls began closing, around 70 of the 200 seats set out in the atrium were filled.
Emotional fervor, so intense at the event’s beginning, came to a head around 8:07 p.m. Student whistles and cheers could be heard in the Stamp’s lobby when polling stats announced that Texas Democrat Beto O’ Rourke was leading his state’s much-anticipated Senate race — a lead that proved to be short-lived for O’Rourke, who ended up losing narrowly to incumbent Republican Sen.Ted Cruz.
“I am excited! This is the point where I pull out my phone and start tracking the races that I care about,” said Larkin.
However, the crescendo of excitement was as brief as it was dynamic — an hour after those cheers filled the halls, many students had begun to empty out of the venue.
When 10:00 rolled around, the catered Chick-fil-a was long gone, and the TerpsVote table in the back was empty. Less than 20 students remained at the event, most of whom were on their smartphones or laptops tracking the results of the state elections that mattered most to them.
The watch party ended slowly, and in quiet introspection. It was a fitting ending for an event that managed to encourage a group of young, opinionated voters to prioritize the celebration of democracy over partisan politics for a night.