General Election Watch Party to take place in Honors Great Room

By Antonio Miguel Escorzon •

The General Election Watch Party is covering the presidential election results at 8 p.m. on Nov. 5 in the Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center, Room 4024 – the Honors Great Room. Pi Sigma Alpha, National Political Science Honor Society, is hosting the event.

The election watch party is coordinated by Nelson Bass, chair of the Department of Humanities and Politics, and Ransford Edwards Jr., assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Politics.

2019 NSU alumna and Pi Sigma Alpha charter president Tal Lubarsky proposed the idea to Edwards, who was faculty adviser for Pi Sigma Alpha. Edwards endorsed the idea, and in 2018, the first watch party was hosted for students.

“After planning the event, we advertised the midterm election watch party to students in Pi Sigma Alpha and for students in the political science major,” Edwards said.

The watch parties are hosted every two years and follow the results for the midterm elections and general elections. Until 2022, the watch parties were hosted in the former Don Taft University Center Flight Deck.

“We moved from the Flight Deck to the Honors Great Room to have more control over the venue. There are more screens in the Great Room, too,” Edwards said.

The watch parties benefit from having different TV screens on during the spectator event. Each screen displays a different media outlet covering the election results.

Edwards said at the watch parties, he tunes to mainstream media and entertainment, such as CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and ABC.

Bass explained why attendees view multiple media channels during the watch parties.

“As professors, we have to give enough information, so our students are informed,” Bass said. “We make sure to offer different viewpoints and have variety.”

This method allows students with all political viewpoints to join the watch party, watch the media they most prefer and compare how other outlets cover the election results.

Bass said anyone can attend the watch party because, for students, it pays to be informed about candidates’ platforms.

“Being apathetic about voting does not pay off,” Bass said. “The watch parties engender student interest at the campus.”

Faculty from the Department of Humanities and Politics attend alongside students to answer any questions they may have. The watch party is a casual gathering where students can see and experience the significance of elections and voting. Students and faculty find themselves in this exciting environment.

“The watch party environment is fun,” Edwards added. “Through media, politics now has the element of being like a horse race, as watching all these coverages, we will not know what happens on election night.”