With music playing outside the Union and Posvar, food trucks lining Fifth Avenue giving away free food to voters and students eagerly lining up at the polls, Oakland was vibrant on Election Day.
After months of ruthless campaigning, rallies, speeches, debates and scandals, Americans finally had the chance to cast their votes. Despite the contentious battle between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump that was often ugly — and news reports that western Pennsylvania could be a hotbed of voter intimidation, suppression and infighting — Pittsburgh set an overwhelmingly positive and supportive tone on Election Day.
Even though the race was too close to call as The Pitt News went to print, voters who made their voices heard on Tuesday showed class.
The strong community support, active volunteers and voter enthusiasm was a clear contrast and a sign of hope, however small, to the divisive nature of the election.
As Election Day approached, Trump’s encouragements for supporters to watch polling places and controversial accusations of harassment against Republicans in states like North Carolina preceded concerns of voter intimidation and voter suppression in the state. In response, the Justice Department ensured voters were protected by sending out more than 500 personnel in 28 states, including Pennsylvania, to guard against voter intimidation.
But ultimately, the worry and speculation proved to be hollow — at least during the day. Across Oakland and Pittsburgh, voters seemed to succeed in performing their civic duty, which was a testament to both the strength of our democratic process and the commitment of Pittsburghers to conclude this national struggle as a city united.
On Pitt’s campus, the longest wait reached 45 minutes in the William Pitt Union. The Union reported an 1,800 student turnout at the station and 927 voters had voted at Posvar Hall by 6:15 p.m.
One student reported trouble early in the day — Amol Koldhekar said he was asked to show his ID despite voting in the precinct before, but we found the majority of students had positive voting experiences. And at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, an Allegheny County judge had to issue a court order reinforcing existing rules about poll watcher and election judge interaction, but otherwise, voting was relatively smooth.
Everyone in the community came out and fulfilled their responsibilities in making sure the voting process was smooth, efficient and — most importantly — simple.
Social media played a large role in contributing to the way the day functioned . On Twitter, helpful residents reminded others what Pennsylvania’s tricky ballot initiative extending the age of retirement to 75 was really asking. Local news outlets, from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to PublicSource to reporters working for the polling campaign ElectionLand, offered helpful tips and reached out to voters who were self-reporting problems with malfunctioning machines and unnecessary voter ID enforcement.
Calling centers, including Allegheny County’s elections office, both campaign offices and 8600-VOTE remained open all day accepting reports of issues at the polls. Members of the community — despite which candidate voters were supporting individually — seemed determined to support each other.
And the City deserves credit for that, too. Amie Downs, director of communications for Allegheny County, answered questions directly, sent out mass emails and kept the public and the press regularly updated about voting problems.
Additionally, ridesharing companies Uber and Lyft offered free trips to polls throughout the day. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offered free access to its site for Election Day and the day afterwards in order to keep citizens updated.
We applaud the community for coming together as whole to ensure every person had their chance to vote without any hassles.
There’s a lot to be upset about after this election season — and yesterday’s results — but the community’s wholehearted effort to see everyone to the voting booth is a silver lining.