Super Tuesday: Jimmy, Dana, John, Keith and Jillian

Keith Klang

Jimmy Petrich

Dana Sagona

Jillian Egan

John Johnson

Keith’s Super Tuesday:

The rain soaked streets covering Huguenot Street were surprisingly busy for a Tuesday mid-afternoon. People coming in and out of Deyo Hall’s polling station seemed as if they were on a mission. I interviewed various people, elderly and young, black and white, students and residents. In the end I came to understand that for the most part New Paltz voters were no overly concerned with what race/gender or religion the candidates were, but felt that a lot of other Americans did. I also got a positive feeling from voters that they felt their vote was very important and that they felt that this election was a crucial one for America and its direction in the world. The weather, which I thought may become an issue, for the most part didn’t stop people from getting all the way downtown to Huguenot Street to vote.

Jimmy's Super Tuesday:

I started my interview with my roommate who used an absentee ballot for Connecticut, and his friend who chose to abstain from voting (also he was the only Republican I could find). After that I went to the SUB and asked each person after they were about to leave if they would tell me who they voted for and why. Everyone was very friendly and nice. Miss Niederhauser was very nervous, but the more I told her that it was ok if she didn’t want to say anything the more she told me. Overall it was a very easy and “no-sweat” experience.

Dana and Jillian’s Super Tuesday:

Only one person refused to answer our questions. Two people gave crappy quotes because they were in a hurry. One woman gave a decent quote but was then unwilling to identify herself (obviously, her quote could not be used). I found that most people were not only willing, but happy to talk about the election. I was not surprised that most people told me that religion, race, and gender were not factors in how they chose to vote, nor was I surprised to find that most people do believe that the rest of the country’s voters are concerned with a candidate’s religion, race, and gender.

I found that most people were eager to express their opinions, but not eager to put their names on the record. They were less eager to give contact info such as phone numbers or e-mails. I found this very strange considering my own views that, if I’m willing to say something, I’m also willing to claim what I’ve said. However, the first person Dana and I interviewed shed some light on the reasons for secrecy in elections: fear of retaliation. This man’s wife was too afraid to change her voter registration status from Independent to Democrat for fear of upsetting her mostly Republican co-workers (as party registration is publicly accessible). He claimed she was unable to vote in the primary because of this. I found some people’s answers to my questions refreshing; Mr. Jasyn was very willing to call all the candidates jerks, yet he still voted for one of those jerks.

A strange factor of which I can’t quite make heads or tails is that men were much more willing to stop and answer all our questions than women. I don’t know what that means for female reporters, nor am I willing to make any kind of analysis regarding this observation. Another observation is that since Dana and I are both female, people were way less edgy about us hanging around the entrance of a middle school. We both felt that had we been male, someone from the school would have asked us what the hell we were doing within the hour and-a-half that we were standing around.

John’s Super Tuesday

I went out around 11:45, a little early so that I could catch the first people that were voting. I also asked a couple people before I went to the polls. I had to work at 1, so I needed to get my quotes as fast as possible so I wouldn’t be late. Everyone I approached was very nice, but some didn’t really want to answer the question, which was “Do you think race or gender play a big role in the upcoming election?” 2 people I asked the question told me that they didn’t really have time to get into a discussion about the issue. Other than that, it went smooth.