Post Election Depression
Exams are one thing, elections are another.
Midterm elections have come and gone. All across the United States, the people are deciding who they want to lead their country and who they just want to be tossed in office just because they like them or they have a nice face. One of the most notable candidates, however, hails from the South, where Georgia governor candidate Stacey Abrams has gone through mountains to assure that she is elected.
For the past month or so, the AUC has been prime with election fever, most if not all in firm stance behind candidate Stacey Abrams. Hype for an election candidate hadn’t been this big since the Barack Obama race many years ago. Understandable though, because Abrams received her education from none other than the illustrious Spelman College!
Droves upon droves of Abrams supporters flooded the campus. Signs, shirts, you name it. You couldn’t walk for more than five seconds without seeing the name “Abrams” being plastered everywhere or seeing Abrams merchandise all around you. From Brown Street to the Promenade, with the AUC and, mostly, Atlanta, in the back of Abram’s pocket, there was no way she couldn’t win.
Or so we thought. As much support as she received, as detailed and as organic as her inspiring background seemed, it wasn’t enough to get her the win as, for now it seems, Stacey Abrams is not the new Governor of Georgia.
It was heartbreaking to go walk through the same areas where Abrams support once filled the streets were now covered in disappointment and grief at the outcome. Calls to boycott the next election were seldom heard, followed by the occasional “Why bother to vote” question that many students ask themselves. As I walked through the streets, from Morehouse to Spelman to Clark, various students were available for their opinions on the outcome.
One Spelman student expressed her straight up disapproval at the outcome. “I felt like Abrams was gonna be the step in the right direction in this dark day and age that we live in,” she replied. “I guess we’ll have to keep waiting for Georgia to make that step.”
Another student, a Morehouse student, took to blaming the lack of proper voting stations as the cause for her loss. “If the AUC had talked about getting out there, going to vote more, then maybe she woulda won.”
Unsurprisingly, there was a great amount of students that believe that the election is said and done. Many have placed their faith that there are votes yet to be counted, the same statement that Abrams herself has made. Despite the initial dull nature of some AUC students who had lost hope, there is still a staggering amount of hope left to the beholder.
Across Clark, many students were optimistic about the conclusion, citing the close nature of the votes as well as the outstanding turnout of voters would surely turn in Abrams’ favor. “She’s worked too long and gone too far to get absolutely nowhere. There’s got to be a catch to this,” the student replied. “There’s gotta be more voters out there.”
He wasn’t wrong, however. As we speak, there are more votes yet to be counted, seeing as not all the voting stations were tallied properly. Some say this gave Abrams’ opponent a sneaky advantage, but who truly knows? As the final tallying continues, it’s commendable for Abrams to remain positive in the face of defeat, confident that the remaining voter turnout will get her the lead. Only time will tell, but for now, we just have to sit back and wait.
Braylin Horton is a junior at Morehouse College. He is a CTEMs (Cinema, Television, Emerging Media Studies) major with a minor in Journalism. He strives to become a screenwriter
