Election day wrap-up

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By Caitlin Puffenberger

Nov. 6, 2012, was a big day for voters across the nation, and Virginia voters played a key role in the outcome. Candidates Mitt Romney (R) and Barack Obama (D) were evenly matched in most polls preceding the election, but the president ultimately pulled ahead with 303 electoral votes to Romney’s 206 (Florida results are still being counted). Obama’s victory depended on wins in key swing states like Ohio and Virginia; in fact, most news stations began predicting the president’s win as Ohio polls came in in his favor. Continue reading →

Sweet Frog Election Day Raffle Results

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Election Day 2012 witnessed a massive turnout of young voters that was paramount in deciding the election, especially through the swing states. With the help of the #VCUVotes get-out-the-vote campaign, many VCU students were encouraged to take some time at the polls to decide America’s next president. As an incentive for voting, students who showed their “I voted” sticker to the VCU Honors Social Media and the Presidential Race class table outside the Sweet Frog Monroe Park location were invited to enter a raffle to win one of five free Sweet Frog yogurt cards. So, congratulations to the following winners! Continue reading →

How much do Romney and Obama really differ on foreign policy?

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By Kathtleen Ketcham

As seen in the 3rd presidential debate a few weeks ago, both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama seem to agree more on foreign policy than disagree. Some of the topics that they agreed on were swearing off U.S. intervention in Syria, drone strikes, pulling troops from Afghanistan by 2014, as well as cracking down on China’s neglection of trade. However, one key issue that they did disagree on was military spending which impacts the world view of both candidates. Continue reading →

Drones and the 2012 Election

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By Shane Abinette

If either Romney or Obama is elected, there will most likely not be change in how the US uses drone technology in the Middle East. Because of the intended yet unsuccessful “secretness” of the Drone Wars, politicians sparsely talk them about. However, drones were brought up during the presidential foreign policy debate. Both Obama and Romney believe drones are an effective technology that should continue to be implemented to combat terrorism. However, there is a lot of evidence that drones are extremely ineffective and have killed large numbers of civilians. Independent groups claim there have been around 800 civilian deaths from drone strikes, out of the almost 3000 total killed.
President Obama has ordered 283 drone strikes in Pakistan, six times more than President George W. Bush. Obama has sent drones to at least six countries and used them to kill a U.S. citizen without trial. Under Obama’s administration, the Pentagon has sold drones to more than 60 countries. Continue reading →

Is climate change an issue?

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By Selena Motley

It has been fall for almost a month. Has anyone noticed? When I was a child, my Halloween costume consisted of Long John Thermal Underwear, a black sweater, black jeans, green fake hair to cover my ears, and a pointed hat. Together my mom put that on me and said, “You are the Wicked Witch of the West.” This year as a prime example how none of those fall/winter clothes were needed. I could have put on a plaid blue dress and red flip-flops, this time calling myself Dorothy. No, I have not moved states since that one wicked Halloween but what has changed is the climate. Continue reading →

The role of Afghanistan in election 2012

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By Sujoy Chatterjee

Foreign policy plays an important role in the minds of people as they have to select a candidate who has the policies to handle such an important aspect which affects everyone’s lives and the issues surrounding Afghanistan certainly plays an important role in foreign policy. The Afghanistan war is going on for twelve years and the combat is supposed to end by 2014 (Crawford, 2012, para.28). The presidential candidates have many different issues in the foreign policy realm but what is the stance of Obama and Romney relating to Afghanistan and what has Obama achieved in these last 4 years regarding Afghanistan. Continue reading →

The candidates’ views on federal regulations on the environment

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By Greg Goldie

During this presidential campaign we hear the same main topics being discussed: the economy, education, and foreign policy. But the environment remains a key issue not being given enough attention. The environment is a very important issue that needs to be discussed, due to all the vital resources that we obtain from the environment, and the ever-growing threat of global warming. President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have two very different views on how they believe the federal government should regulate the environment. Continue reading →

Obama and Romney on affirmative action

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By Katherine Johnson

Affirmative action has been in place since President Lyndon B Johnson’s term in 1965. It was enforced during a time of racial discrimination, in which employers could deny someone a job based on their race. Today, however, it has expanded to stop discrimination based on gender, religion, race or sexual orientation in the workplace and education. Continue reading →

Where do the candidates stand on jobs?

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By Sun Harrison

President Barack Obama inherited a very weak economy  (Lynch, 2012).  Nonetheless, under President Barack Obama, there have been 31 straight months of job growth added to the private sector.  There were a total of 5.2 million jobs that have been added to the private sector (DPCC). 114,000 jobs were created last month, which let the unemployment rate drop below 8% (Liptack, 2012).  Recently, Obama visited Ohio to let the people know of the success of the auto industry bailout.  The auto bailout saved around 155,000 jobs in the state of Ohio, which also added around 13,000 jobs that were related to the auto industry.   Continue reading →

Education: Where the candidates stand

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By Ady Moralez

As college students, the presidential candidates’ viewpoints on tuition and Pell Grants directly affect us.  Barack Obama was interviewed on MTV yesterday and talked about such issues. He said, “And we’re going to reward those schools that do a good job providing good value for their students while keeping tuition low, and we’ll stop directing federal aid to those colleges and universities that are loading up their students with debt” (Wallace). Continue reading →

Obama and Romney on energy production

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By Christian Ruiz

Mitt Romney opposes the extension of tax credits for wind production (FactChecking the Hofstra Debate, 2012). For example, he intends to end the Production Tax Credit, which is a subsidy for wind energy production that is scheduled to expire at the end of 2012. There is truth in his statement that wind and solar energy production cannot “power the economy”: All renewable energy, including hydropower and biofuels, constituted 9% of the nation’s energy consumption in 2011. Although wind power production has doubled since 2008, it still only constituted 13% of all renewable energy sources generated in 2011. In summary, wind power accounted for a very small percentage of the United States’ overall energy supply (FactChecking the Hofstra Debate, 2012). Continue reading →

Where do the candidates stand on immigration?

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By Alix Hines

According to Politifact, President Barack Obama promised to introduce a comprehensive immigration bill within his first year of office. Politifact’s “Obameter” says that he failed to do that. CNN says that he has been criticized by both parties for not addressing the issue while his party was in control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Continue reading →

Live on campus? Here’s where to vote

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VCU’s 10 campus dormitory locations are dispersed among four polling precincts in the city of Richmond. Here is a list of each dorm and the precinct it is in. If you live in Johnson Hall, for example, you are in Precinct 206 and you vote at Dominion Place, 1025 W. Grace St. (The links will take you to a map of the precinct.)

Dorm
Dorm Address
Precinct
Precinct Location
Brandt and Rhoads halls 710 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 206 Dominion Place, 1025 W. Grace St.
Honors College 701 W. Grace St., Richmond, VA 206 Dominion Place, 1025 W. Grace St.
Johnson Hall 801 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 206 Dominion Place, 1025 W. Grace St.
West Grace South 835 West Grace St., Richmond, VA 206 Dominion Place, 1025 W. Grace St.
Cary & Belvidere 301 W. Cary St., Richmond, VA 206 Dominion Place, 1025 W. Grace St.
Ackell Residence Center 1100 W. Broad St., Richmond, VA 213 George Washington Carver School, 1110 W. Leigh St.
Broad & Belvidere 700 W. Broad St., Richmond, VA 213 George Washington Carver School, 1110 W. Leigh St.
GRC I, II and III 711 W. Main St., Richmond, VA 505 Clark Springs Elementary School, 1101 Dance St.
Cabaniss Hall 615 N. 8th St., Richmond, VA 607 Main Library, 101 E. Franklin St.
Low-Rises 600 N. 10th St., Richmond, VA 607 Main Library, 101 E. Franklin St.

Here is a print-friendly list of the dorms and associated polling places.

Here is a Google Fusion Table map of the data. The red markers represents dormitories that are in Polling Precinct 206; the yellow markers, Precinct 213; the green marker, Precinct 505; and the blue markers, Precinct 607. Click on a marker for more information.

Monday’s the deadline to register to vote

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Monday (Oct. 15) is the deadline to register to vote in Virginia for the Nov. 6 general election. So if you’re not registered, there’s still time — but you’ve got to move fast.

You can find an online voter registration form here:

http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/BecomeARegisteredVoter.html

You would need to fill out the form and get it postmarked by Monday. Or you can take the form to the voter registrar’s office, Room 105, at Richmond City Hall, 900 E. Broad St.

The process is pretty straightforward. If you need help, a group called Student PIRGs has a nonpartisan campaign called the New Voters Projects:

http://studentvote.org/

That website also walks you through the process of filling out the voter registration form. However, you can’t submit the form online; you must mail it or hand-deliver it to election officials.

Last day to register to vote with us!

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Today is the last day you can register to vote with us. We will have our campaign table in the VCU Student Commons between 10 a.m. and noon as well as 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. The filing deadline to register is Monday. We will also again raffle our cool “Uncle Ram” T-shirts and send you into the weekend with some free candy. Come see us! Continue reading →

Austin and Eric, come get your T-shirts!

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We have a winnah! Actually, two winners — Austin Ollivant and Eric O’Neal. They both win Uncle Ram / “VCU Votes” T-shirts. Their names were drawn this morning from the raffle tickets that passers-by filled out and dropped in our class “ballot box” when we were at the Commons yesterday.

We’ll conduct another drawing after we staff the tables in the Commons on Wednesday and on Friday. Still time to win! (But you can’t win if you don’t play. So stop by the table and fill out an entry slip.)

Eat candy, win a T-shirt and register to vote!

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We are moving our campaign offline this week, meaning we’ll be in the VCU Student Commons to register students to vote. Come by our stand, eat a candy and sign up for a chance to win one of our awesome “Uncle Ram” T-shirts! We also have handouts with information on the standpoints of President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on important issues.

We’ll be in the Commons on Monday (Oct. 8), 2-6 p.m., Wednesday (Oct. 10), 2-6 p.m., and Friday (Oct. 12), 10 a.m.-noon and 2-5 p.m. Come and see us!

Vote, VCU!

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Welcome to our campaign website to turn out the vote on November 6 at VCU!

This is a nonpartisan campaign of the “Social Media and the Presidential Race” course by Dr. Marcus Messner and Professor Jeff South at Virginia Commonwealth University. We will officially launch our campaign on Monday, October 8, in the University Student Commons at VCU. Stay tuned, “like” us on Facebook and “follow” us on Twitter! Use hashtags #vcuvotes and #uncleram to join the discussion on Twitter.