2008 Woodie Awards
Students cast their vote
Melissa Eby
Issue date: 11/9/06 Section: news
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The missing voting machine led to long lines and accusations that the missing machine was meant to suppress students' votes. Because of a maintenance mistake, only one voting machine was delivered to the university instead of the original two that were supposed to come.
Oliver Larmi, a member of the Democratic Executive Committee in Columbia County, believes "the Republican County Commissioners slighted BU students."
Larmi added that the missing voting machine is "part of a pattern, that many students are discriminated against by police and public officials."
Although some students waited in line as long as half an hour, student Amanda Bailey, judge of elections at BU's precinct, said that "no one was turned away and that there were no complaints from students."
After calls to the courthouse, a second voting machine, along with extra paper ballots, was brought to campus around 4 p.m.
"Everything was blown out of proportion," said Bailey, who is also president of BU's Model United Nations Student Organization.
About 250 students had placed their vote by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Bailey called the number of voters on campus a "good turnout for a non-presidential voting year."
In 2002, at the last gubernatorial election, 313 people voted on campus.
David Greenwald, professor of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice, said despite having only one voting machine for the majority of the day, voter turnout was higher than in the past and "many people worked to bring the vote out."
Results from Tuesday's midterm election gave Democrats the edge over Republicans in both the House and the Senate. A close race in Virginia, which went to the Democrats, and gave them control of Capitol Hill for the first time since 1994. Jim Webb's victory in Virginia put an end to Republican's hopes of a 50 - 50 split in the Senate.
Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld stepped down following the election results. Opposition to the war in Iraq led to heavy Republican losses. Nancy Pelosi is set to become the first female speaker in the House, now that the Democratic Party holds the majority.