Election Day In DC

This post was written by 21st Century Fellow Ellen Austin

November 4 was the most highly anticipated election day that I have ever lived through. I had a feeling that the election would be decided before I went to sleep, but actually watching John McCain make his concession speech before midnight was rather strange, as I don’t have any clear memories of presidential elections prior to 2000, and in both 2000 and 2004 we went to sleep not knowing who would be inaugurated in January. It was amazing to watch the decisive results come in as polls closed across the country and to hear Senator Obama announced as the next president. I was very proud to be an American.

Washington, D.C. was a very exciting place to be on Election Day. Throughout the day, before any information was available, the city felt like it was preparing for something big to happen. I have never been able to be around so many people who were so excited and cared so deeply about politics. Indeed, because I voted by absentee ballot, I felt a bit left out; the accessory of the day was “I Voted” stickers, which I never received.

One of my professors said at the beginning of the semester that politics is the sport that Washington is best at, and watching the returns come in was almost like watching a big football game. When states were counted for Obama, the room erupted with cheers. The few McCain supporters in the room were far outnumbered by the Obama supporters.

After Obama was pronounced the winner, there was an incredible amount of excitement in the city. Large groups of people gathered together in several areas of the city, and throughout Washington, cars were honking their horns, people were shouting in excitement and celebrating Obama’s historic victory. As cliché as it sounds, it felt like the change that Obama has been talking about since he began his marathon campaign twenty one months ago had finally come, and we could finally breathe a huge sigh of relief that the monumental error that has been the Bush administration is coming to an end.