Though Election Day in Houston had a rainy start, nothing could dampen the spirits of members of the Rice University community as they came out to celebrate democracy at Rice’s first Election Day block party held Nov. 5 in the Academic Quad.
The event, hosted by a coalition of Rice student organizations and chaired by seniors Katherine Jeng, Akshay Sethi and Olivia Roark, was organized to encourage civic engagement and a spirit of democracy among students, faculty and staff and included voter information to help support and inform participants about their voting rights and options.
“Election Day can bring a mix of emotions, so this event was about creating a supportive, celebratory atmosphere where students can learn about civic engagement, unwind and connect with others who care about making a difference,” Jeng said. “With the event located right next to our campus polling site, we wanted to make it easier and more fun than ever for students to cast their ballots.”
The festivities also included refreshments, live music, a civic organization fair and a basketball inflatable, bouncy castle and photo booth.
First-time voter and sophomore Enzo DAmato expressed his excitement about casting a ballot for the first time.
“I’ve been looking forward to voting for a long time,” DAmato said. “I’ve always been politically interested and certainly follow very closely political news and the happenings of the government, so I couldn’t wait to get an opportunity to make my voice heard.”
Another first-time voter, junior Arianna Porras, also emphasized the importance of casting a ballot.
“If there’s anything I learned, especially with this upcoming election, is that even though you think it might not matter, sometimes it takes a vote or two to just really change the way we elect people into office,” Porras said. “I would say just vote even if you think it doesn’t matter, because it really does.”
Over at the Rice Welcome Center, polling for registered Harris County voters took place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The on-campus polling location included staffing by 18 Rice student poll workers. More than 1,000 people voted at the location, according to presiding election judge Karyn Fu, a junior at Rice.
“It was definitely a busy day but everything ran smoothly,” Fu said. “Compared to past elections, so many more students turned out to vote this year. It was very rewarding to see how excited and resolute everyone was about casting their vote and contributing to democracy!”
Later in the evening, an election night watch party began at 7 p.m. in the Sid Richardson College Commons. Attendees gathered to watch live election results, connect with friends and engage in discussions about the impact of the day’s events. The event was open to all Rice staff, faculty and students, so members of the university community could share in the excitement of election night.
“I think the basis of why we wanted to have a watch party is to have the campus community come together and celebrate the civic engagement that we have in such high numbers on campus,” said Sethi, who was also one of the organizers of the watch party.
“I think it’s a really good educational opportunity,” said Melissa Marschall, Sid Richardson magister and professor of political science. “There are a lot of first-time voters here. There’s a lot of things being discussed by the TV commentators, and so there’s information sharing. Some people don’t understand the Electoral College. Some people don’t understand the electoral geography. They’re talking about it. They’re learning about the candidates and the positions.”
Junior Aleena Ahmad, co-president of Rice IGNITE, a new campus organization focused on the political and civic engagement of women and nonbinary people that helped coordinate the event, said she was pleased to see the great turnout at the watch party.
“We’re really excited to just bring together the community here with some food to spend time together as this historic election goes on tonight,” Ahmad said.
Marschall called voting “an important ritual.”
“We want to have young people become habitual voters, and this is a good way to get them launched to do that,” she said.