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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Page 4 ^SV0TE2004^ November 3, 2004 t (NAME: Len Wall, third-year hotel, restaurant and tourism management student VOTE: Bush REASON: Support for war in Iraq. "Kerry will probably screw up something in Iraq.” I NAME: Jessica ■ Woods, second ly year journalism «§ student ■ VOTE: Kerry REASON: VI Disagrees with Bush’s foreign policy, agrees with Kerry on most issues. NAME: Luke Gunter, first-year business student VOTE: Bush REASON:Taxes help parents, better job protecting the country. “I was raised a Republican." !NAME: Kacie Henderson, first year English student VOTE: Kerry REASON: Better plan for war in Iraq; Bush mishandled war; added: Women have rights, too." I NAME: Brian Sims, second-year psychology student VOTE: Bush REASON: Bush is more consistent. "I think the war was a necessity.” I NAME: Patrick Griffin, first-year psychology student VOTE: Kerry REASON: Doesn’t like Bush. “Kerry supports what I believe in. Residence halls side with Bush By MARY ANN FANNING THE GAMECOCK Different parts of USC’s campus — like different regions of the nation — have distinct political leanings, a survey conducted by The Gamecock revealed. While the majority of the residence halls sided with Bush, Sen. John Kerry carried the popular vote. Of 206 students polled, 104 said they voted for Kerry. Bush won out in the Towers — Snowden, Moore, Douglas and Laborde — garnering the support of 51 percent of polled voters. On the south side of campus — Bates, Bates West and the Roost — 58 percent of polled students said they voted for Bush. In Wade Hampton, McClintock and Sims, Bush led by 65 percent. And in the Greek Village, South Tower and Patterson, 75 percent of students polled said they voted for the Republican incumbent. Sixty-five percent of students polled in Preston College said they voted for Kerry. On the north side of campus, 66 percent of polled students from Columbia Hall and Capstone said they voted for Kerry. In the East, South and West quads, 61 percent of polled students said they voted for the senator from Massachusetts. Fifty-five percent of polled students ♦ Please see DORM, page 5 Broken down by major, Kerry had the most support from foreign studies students and natural sciences students, with 80 percent; Bush had the most support among business students, with 68 percent. _ DORM BREAKDOWN Dorms Winner Percentage Preston Kerry 65% fa* yi.a Horseshoe Bush 54% _ Maxcy JBB The Towers Bush 51% 1 ft McClintock Bush 65% W Sims |aikai| Wade Hampton ■■■I ■ Patterson Bush 75% South Tower Greek Village <FT! t—r-, South Quad Kerry 61% JZTsySi East Quad i t < West Quad Bates Bush 58% ® .■ Bates West Roost Ijol Columbia Hall Kerry 66% Capstone GRAPHIC BY DAVID STAGG AND CHAS MCCARTHY/THE GAMECOCK The Gamecock polled 206 students as they were exiting the residence halls listed above. i.... ..— ■ EXPERIENCE Continued from page 1 “I already knew how I was going to decide and I looked at the New Jersey Web page, so when I got it, it only took about five minutes,” Christine said. “Mine was pretty easy, everything was self explanatory, it just took them forever for them to send the absehtee ballot.” While some students were able to mail their absentee ballots, others didn’t think about filing until it was too late. “I’m from Maryland and haven’t been home in six months, so I didn’t file for an absentee ballot,” fourth-year biology student Bridget Willet said. First-year business student Doug Dicesare said he filed for an absentee ballot from his home state of Ohio, but the ballot never came in the mail. “This would have been my first election, and I wanted to vote, because this is a big election for Ohio,” Dicesare said. In addition, students were allowed to vote early in South Carolina. According to the National Congress of State Legislature’s Web site, about 23 states offer some form of an early voting option, which differs from absentee voting in that voters may visit an election official’s office or, in some states, other satellite voting locations and cast a vote without offering an excuse. * South Carolinians’ last day to vote using the early voting option was Friday. Fifth-year advertising student Alison Shuman said she thought she could avoid lines by voting early, but she still ended up waiting for more than an hour, mosdy because of the new voting machines, she said. In some polling places, touch screen monitors are being used to tally this year’s election results. The machines were implemented as part of the 2002 Help America Vote Act, passed to form uniform standards for the election after the 2000 election controversy in Florida. The touch screens, which are activated by a poll worker, allow voters to go through the ballot and choose candidates individually. While the new screens are ^ supposed to create uniformity among voting practices, not all counties in South Carolina have them. “I voted at Maxcy-Gregg and we used the same machines as in the Democratic primary, not the new touch screens,” education graduate student Autumn Perkins said. Some USC students returned to their precincts Tuesday to cast their votes on the new electronic voting machines some districts are using. “The entire county was using the new touch screen system,” said Jon Draisen, a first-year electronic journalism student from Anderson. “It was really neat, you could review back through and see who you voted for and, I swear, it is idiot proof because there is a big flashing oval button at the top that says, ‘vote.’” Draisen, who said the system was like a “big laptop screen,” also said if every precinct would use the electronic machines then there wouldn’t be any I problems. Having never voted before, it went really well,” Draisen said. Dustin Pezall, a second-year biology student, voted in West Columbia at the National Guard armory. He said he arrived at the polls at 10 a.m. but didn’t get to vote till noon. “I liked it,” he said. “I was actually glad to see all the people out there voting, as opposed to not seeing anyone at all. “It was probably the size of a high school gymnasium and was pretty crowded.” Pezall said his precinct also used the electronic voting machines and the only pan of the ballot that was slightly confusing were the referendum issues and how they were worded. “I think it worked real well, and already there is some controversy in saying there are some glitches, but the machines are so hard to make a mistake on,” Pezall said. Comments on this story ? E-mail ga7necocknews@gw7n.sc. edu -—, u 4 You can’t go straight from college to retirement. MonsterTRAK® will help you fill in those pesky middle years with a great career. It’s the #1 online career site for students and alumni looking for jobs and internships. 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