By Ashna Balroop 

University of Maryland students expressed fear, concern and optimism last week regarding the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. 

Voting was held at the Adele H. Stamp Student Union from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, where students waited in long lines to cast their ballots. On that day, students also attended watch parties or feverishly spent hours refreshing online news sources to stay updated as the votes were tallied all over the nation. 

At 5:35 a.m. on Nov. 6, former President Donald Trump was announced the winner of the presidency, having secured 312 electoral votes and exceeding the 270 necessary to win. Vice President Kamala Harris earned 226 votes, according to the Associated Press. 

Jada Lofinmakin, a freshman philosophy, politics and economics major, voted for the first time in this year’s election. She was eager to participate in the democratic process but was upset about the lines at the student union’s voting center. Lofinmakin arrived at the polls at 9:30 a.m. and cast her ballot by 11 a.m. 

“It took much longer than I anticipated,” Lofinmakin said. 

Lofinmakin said she saw this election as very impactful to her future as a Black woman and added that Trump is an obstacle to her freedom. 

“I just don’t want to live in a country that is very stifling for minorities,” Lofinmakin said. “I’m automatically losing if I’m living here and Trump is president.” 

Aubrey Colwell, a freshman enrolled in letters and sciences, was also elated to vote for the first time but found the process underwhelming. 

“It felt good, I feel grown,” Colwell said. “[But] it was boring. I was sitting in line for a while.”

To Mahlet Kefyalew, a freshman psychology major, voting was an anxiety-inducing experience. 

“It’s a little bit nerve-wracking,” Kefyalew said. “If you do something wrong, [I’m] scared [my] vote might not get counted.” 

Regardless, she said it was important to vote in this election since she felt she can directly affect the outcome.

“It’s like a really close election, and this is also [my] first time being able to vote. So knowing that you kind of can make an impact is like a nice feeling,” Kefyalew said.

Similarly, Hannah Kim, a freshman psychology major, felt that her voting experience at the student union was complex. Still, she said it was important since the election’s outcomes directly impacted women’s rights. 

“It was very confusing, but after, it just felt very relieving,” Kim said. “Both of the candidates are polar opposites. That’s something like, especially as women — that definitely has a big impact.”

Colwell, Kefayalew and Kim all spent their night watching news broadcasts to see who would win the election. 

Junior cell biology and biological sciences major and the president of UMD College Republicans, Ethan Vinod, said that members of the club, including himself, experienced celebratory emotions after Trump’s victory. 

“A lot of us didn’t think he would win by the margin that he did,” Vinod said. “ I was very glad of the results of the election, not just because of the presidential election, but we got the Senate back, and also we’re most likely going to get the house back.”

Vinod hopes that the Trump administration will improve foreign affairs in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war and deliver a better economy for Americans.

“If Kamala had won the election, that would be a very bad day for Wall Street,” Vinod said. “The stocks that I hold have gone up 20% in the last two days, spiking after Election Day.”

Additionally, Vinod believes that Trump’s immigration policies were erased by the Biden administration and anticipates restoring legal immigration in the future. 

“I’m hoping that the Trump administration will be good on their promises and make sure that immigration in this country is fair and correct,” Vinod said. 

Regardless of Vinod’s beliefs, he thinks that the UMD community should be more united. 

“I think this community needs to take a step back [and realize] someone who voted for Trump isn’t their enemy,” Vinod said. “Likewise, someone who voted for Kamala isn’t like the enemy at the end of the day. We’re all Americans. We’re all brothers and sisters.”

Adunifeoluwa Daniel Olawale, a freshman operations management and business analytics major, was disappointed that Harris lost the election. 

“I feel a lot of people who voted weren’t fully informed in what they were voting for. They just felt that because she’s a Black woman, they didn’t want to vote for her,” Olawale said. 

However, Olawale feels safer in America as a Black man even though Harris did not win. 

Olawale wants Trump to do better during his second term in office than his first. He hopes that the Trump administration does not enact Project 2025, which is a federal policy agenda that would implement a conservative vision and expand presidential power, according to BBC News. 

“I’m just hoping the four years fly by very quickly,” Olawale said. 

Eli Brennan, a senior public policy major and the co-president of UMD College Democrats, believes that a second Trump presidency will negatively affect America. 

“It’s going to be really dark,” Brennan said. “The most scary thing to me is how he will use, with or without Congress, federal power to restrict access to abortion and contraception.” 

Brennan is unsure if the results of the election actually reflect the will of the American people and if people understand the effect of his message.

“The economy is going to do very poorly once his tariffs and deportations are put in place,” Brennan said. “I’m not sure voters know or appreciate the threat that Donald Trump poses, and so I’m not so sure if it was his message that resonated with voters or if it was an issue on the side of the Democrats being a convincing case for their candidate.” 

Sarah Rupprecht, a freshman English major, believes that the election is representative of the people. Rupprecht also believes that a second Trump term is concerning but is still optimistic about the future. 

“I guess it reflects the opinions of everyone who voted because more people voted for Trump,” Rupprecht said. “We got through one Trump presidency, so we can do it again.”

Rupprecht believes that while Trump won the popular vote this election, it furthered her belief in abolishing the Electoral College. This is because it was projected that the swing states, like Pennsylvania, would have extreme significance in the election, according to CBS News. 

“Everyone’s vote should be equal,” Rupprecht said. 

Rupprecht is not surprised about Trump’s re-election, which has confirmed her prior knowledge about voting.

“I’m not that surprised that he was elected,” Rupprecht said. “This definitely proves that it’s very important for young people to vote.”

Featured Image: Signs point to the on-campus election day voting site at the Adele H. Stamp Student Union. Photo by Ashna Balroop.