Students watched apprehensively after months of voter registration drives, absentee ballot distribution and canvassing off-campus. Politically-minded students from both major parties missed classes yesterday to travel to New Hampshire, Pennsylvania or Ohio to drive voters to the polls and attempt to raise last-minute awareness about election issues by canvassing and distributing literature.
The College Democrats, the College Republicans and Amherst Students for Kerry all encouraged students to leave the College to work for the election. Some students left campus Monday afternoon to canvass in Ohio because they felt that New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, in contrast to Ohio, were already leaning toward Kerry. Other students left Tuesday morning and stayed in New Hampshire for the day. A number of students also traveled to New Hampshire on Sunday to hear Kerry speak.
All of the students who left campus to canvass on election day hoped that they would be able to make a difference in a state that expected a tight race. "New Hampshire is the closest swing state [to Massachusetts] and even though it's only four electoral votes, I'm convinced that the election is going to [depend on] just two," said Cate Smith '05, who canvassed yesterday.
Some students canvassed because they wanted to work toward preventing confusion similar to that of the 2000 presidential election. "The 2000 election was an absolute scandal, a total failure of democracy, and the result of that is that we've had four damaging years under what I think is one of the most corrupt and destructive administrations in this country's history," said Tia Subramanian '05, who went to Ohio yesterday.
Ethan Davis '05, co-chair of the College Republicans, said that some students canvassed on Monday and others joined members of the Smith Republicans on a trip to New Hampshire yesterday. "We are doing phone banking and door to door," said Davis. He also said that the group met last night to watch the election polls.
Students lobbied the administration to allow students to make their own choice about missing class to canvass. "The letters I wrote to the administration and the [Association of Amherst Students] encouraged students to get out there and volunteer, no matter which party they plan to volunteer for," stated Kate Stayman-London '05, chair of Amherst Students for Kerry.
President Anthony Marx notified the faculty that some students would be absent yesterday. "President Marx e-mailed them to encourage them to be sympathetic to our efforts and work with us to find mutually agreeable arrangements," said Stayman-London.
Marx also e-mailed the student body to encourage those students who intended to miss class to let their professors know in advance. In his e-mail, he praised students for fulfilling their civic responsibilities, but reminded them that they would still be responsible for all missed work.
Students reported that most faculty members were supportive of canvassing. "One of them let me postpone an exam that was scheduled for that day without any problems at all," said Subramanian. "I'm really grateful to them, as well as to the administration for being so encouraging about us getting involved in the election and the issues surrounding it."
Professors reminded students that they had to consider the results of skipping class. "I'd say that the decision of students to miss class to canvass is similar to the choice to miss class to play in an athletic event," said Professor of History Peter Czap. "You must weigh the choice in the appropriate context and take responsibility for the consequences."
Professor of Economics Steven Rivkin said that although he believed the decision to miss class was up to students, he would respect the decision to canvass on Tuesday.
Students left on Tuesday certain that the 2004 election would be the most important presidential election in decades. "This is an amazing opportunity, and I will always regret it if I don't take advantage of it now," said Stayman-London before she left to canvass.
For Professor of French Jay Caplan, the most important part of the canvassing trip was the fact that students had the opportunity to become more politically active. "It is good that students are getting involved in the political process," he said. "It would be even better if they could remain involved for the rest of their lives, and not just on election day or during political campaigns."