Massachusetts is one of fourteen states that voted this “Super Tuesday,” and Boston University hosted a polling station at 24 Cummington Mall as one of Boston’s many locations for students, faculty and residents interested in voting Tuesday.
Polls were open between 7:00 am and 8:00 pm. The Life Science and Engineering Building saw its highest voter traffic during the window of 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren finished the day as the top choice for 11 students reporting their vote to The Daily Free Press out of 23 asked.
Elias Lucero, a first year master’s student in the School of Theology, said that he voted for his second choice candidate because his first choice dropped out the day before.
“My main motivation was just to vote for someone who could beat [President Donald] Trump, and I opted for Warren because my first choice [Mayor Pete Buttigieg] dropped out,” Lucero said. “I was deciding between [Warren] and Bernie, and she seems, one, more electable to me, and two, I just feel like she has more concrete policies that I’m aware of.”
Seraaj Fayyaz, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he voted for Warren because he aligns with her views on current events and education issues.
“I liked her because I support her views on the coronavirus and how to help it,” Fayyaz said, “and also her pre-college education plans.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders trailed Warren, gathering the second highest percentage of supporters at seven respondents.
Noemi Guevara, a senior in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said that expressing her thoughts through the process of voting is important to her, and that she voted mainly with a focus on healthcare issues.
“I voted for [Sanders],” Guevara said. “Right now, the U.S. healthcare system is not working out for all of us, and his free ‘Healthcare for All’ is really standing out.”
Katie Wilson, a freshman in the School of Hospitality Administration, said that she’s a first time voter and chose to support Sanders.
“I came to vote because I’m a first time voter. It was exciting,” Wilson said. “I voted for Bernie Sanders because he’s been just an advocate for all the rights I’ve been in support [of] for a really long time.”
Emerson Lawton, a junior in the College of Fine Arts, said that she is a first time voter and chose Sanders because of his environmental and climate change policies.
“I wasn’t old enough to vote in the last presidential election, so I’m excited about being able to vote now,” Lawton said. “I voted for [Sanders] just because I’ve been really excited about his policies and I feel like he’s going to do a lot, especially for environmental causes.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who has been endorsed by former candidates Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, also gathered a modest percentage of votes at BU’s polling location with 17 percent of votes.
Olivia Han, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said that it’s our right to exercise our civil liberties and she voted for a more moderate candidate, Biden.
“I’m studying history, so I know that literally 100 years ago today women wouldn’t have the right to vote, so it’s our right to exercise our civil liberties,” Han said. “I voted for Joe Biden, because he’s not too left.”
Reilley Connelly, a senior in the Questrom School of Business, said that she voted because she wasn’t happy with the current political leadership in the United States and feels that she needs to exercise her right.
“I just don’t agree with a lot of the things that are going on in politics right now. I feel like I have to vote and feel obligated to because a lot of people can’t,” Connelly said. “I voted for Joe Biden. I was planning on voting for Buttigieg, but because he dropped, I wanted to make sure that I was voting for someone that could possibly take out Trump in the election.”
Despite entrepreneur Andrew Yang’s withdrawal from the race for Democratic nominee, one student cast their vote for him. His name, along with Buttigieg and Klobuchar, remained on the ballot.
