The 2024 presidential election will take place on Nov. 5, and USFVotes is hosting a watch party for students and faculty. The event will take place from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the first floor of the University Center.
Caitlin Kennedy, a senior politics major and USFVotes program team lead said, “I’ve gone to every watch party [since the fall of 2022], and it’s just been so energizing and so captivating to share space on campus to see all of the different election results coming in. There’s usually a lot of students and faculty that show up. I’m sure this upcoming election will draw in more students and faculty, with the national attention it’s garnered.”
The San Francisco Department of Elections stated that it will issue four preliminary election results reports. The first of these, released at approximately 8:45 p.m., “will include results from the majority of vote-by-mail ballots received before Election Day.” As more votes are counted, additional reports will be released at approximately 9:45 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. The final report “will be issued as soon as all 514 precincts have reported,” said the Department of Elections.
Kennedy explained, “We usually have one TV on, and we’ll switch around different news stations to see what’s going on on the local end, as well as the state end. And then also, obviously, focusing on the presidential election, as well as different Senate and House races.”
Kennedy said dinner will be provided for attendees. “There should be pizza, wings [and] some snacks. There definitely will be no shortage of food,” she said.
Elena Jimenez, a sophomore politics major and member of USFVotes, described the importance of watch parties, saying, “There can sometimes be a disconnect between who we are students, who we are as people and who we are as those who are civically engaged. I think when you’re in community and solidarity [like at a watch party], you’re able to break [everything] down and be like, ‘Okay, this got passed. What does this mean?”
“I think that watch parties are important because they invite everybody. You don’t have to be some esteemed political scientist. You don’t have to fall anywhere in this perception of knowledge to be able to understand what’s actually going to impact our community and ourselves at the end of the day,” Jimenez said.
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