The day after the 2024 presidential election, several WashU students, all of whom are Black, received explicitly racist text messages asking them to report to the “nearest plantation” from an unknown source.

I agree with Ciorba that nobody should be blaming or scapegoating marginalized communities for the outcome of the 2024 election; that’s shameful. However, let’s not start playing the victim or making excuses, either.

Their underlying message is clear: “Vote for us, because we are better than you. We know what is best for you. We know you better than you know yourself.”

Amendment 3, which will enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion up until fetal viability in the Missouri Constitution, passed with margins of 51.6% to 48.4% on Nov. 5. The amendment, which also protects access to reproductive healthcare like birth control and prenatal care, will go into effect in 30 days. 

After president-elect Donald Trump secured a decisive victory in the presidential election on Tuesday night, many WashU students came to campus the next day grappling with the news and processing a wide range of emotions.

For some, Wednesday was a celebration of a strong showing by Trump. But for many students on WashU’s predominantly Democratic campus, the day was marked by sadness, fear, and uncertainty about the future of the country. 

WashU, like most other majority-liberal universities, is a bubble; however, Missouri is not. Some of the communities most impacted by this year’s election results are just outside the gates of WashU, and stepping out of the campus ecosystem is a crucial step in enacting real change.

Kate Springer, a Public Information Coordinator on the St. Louis County Board of Elections, speaks below about the board’s preparation for the 2024 election. The board has 230 voting locations across the county and an average of 10 to 12 poll staffers per location.

Just over 2,000 people voted in the 2024 election across two polling locations on WashU’s Danforth and Medical Campuses, with the largest voter turnout in history, per the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement. 

This election was the first time that the Medical Campus served as a voting location, with 486 people casting ballots there. Turnout at the Danforth Campus polling location was 1,479, increasing by 38.4% compared to 1,156 voters in the 2020 presidential election.

 In an exit poll conducted by Student Life, 448 voters at the WashU Athletic Complex overwhelmingly supported Democrats, including Kamala Harris for President, Lucas Kunce for Senate, and Wesley Bell for the House of Representatives. Abortion was named a key issue for a majority of voters, and more than 90% of respondents supported Amendment 3.

Despite heavy rains, students, faculty, and community members from the St. Louis area have been lining up to vote since polls opened at 6 a.m. this morning.