As the much-anticipated results of this year’s Presidential election roll in, the Trinity Progressives (TPROG) in partnership with Student Government Association (SGA), Trinity Diversity Connection (TDC) and Pi Sigma Alpha (PSA) will hold a watch party in the CSI atrium.

The watch party will begin at 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 8 and will end when the results of the election are announced. This event will be more formal than the debate watch parties held over the past few weeks; cocktail attire is requested.

“For a lot of election night watch parties, traditionally it’s pretty formal. So I think this is just our sort of take on that,” said Catherine Walters, public relations and social media chair for TPROG.

This watch party is also expected to draw a larger turnout than the well-attended debate watch parties. Walters explained that 100-150 people are expected to attend, but it is hard to say for sure one week before the event.

“We all want to see who is going to get elected as president. So we’re trying to get the biggest group of people out,” Walters said.  

Nick Santulli, president of TPROG, explained in an email that his organization will bear most of the responsibility in putting on the watch party. Other contributing organizations were glad to participate.

“We’ve been wanting to do a results watching party for a long time, so it works. We were going to do our own, and then we found out that there was a big one happening, and the more people the better,” said Sean Watson, president of PSA.  

Huda Syed, president of TDC, explained the connection between her organization and the election.

“We were involved in voter registration early on this semester, so we wanted to continue that and do something to wrap up the election cycle and see what happens on Election Day,” Syed said. “In terms of diversity itself, we try to educate, and voting is a really big part of a college student’s life “” we have to get freshmen registered, and if people are out-of-state or out-of-town, we have to register them with absentee ballot.”

The event will provide a convenient way for students to have access to a live broadcast of the election results. “A lot of people on campus, I don’t think they really have TVs or have access to like TV networks “” I guess this is an easy way for them to walk in to CSI, look at the election results and be like, oh ok, now I know,” Walters said.

While voting will be over on the evening of Nov. 8, discussion of the election will likely be in full swing.

“I think these things are really good actually, I think that they bring people together from maybe different political views. And you kind of have to be civil and learn how to interact with each other. Because you’re in this space together. And I think that that’s really, really important,” Watson said.

In addition to watching the results roll in on multiple screens, attendees can participate in some interactive activities at the watch party.

“We’re going to have a blank map of the United States and we’re going to fill it in red or blue as the results come on,” Walters said.  

There will also be a photo booth at which students can pose for election-themed pictures.

“We’re going to have little fun props that people can put on, like flags and Uncle Sam hats “” pictures with those. And then we’re also going to have giveaways. So we’re giving away masks of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and buttons and stickers and bubbles and all that,” Walters said.  

Sometimes it can take a while to have a decisive result on election night; luckily, attendees will not have to worry about getting hungry. “We plan on doing food, like cookies and brownies,” Syed said. Walters mentioned some additional food options that will be available, but these have not yet been finalized.

Watson explained that he hopes this event helps spark continuing political discussions on campus.

“What would be really beneficial I think, and really good for the school, is if we can kind of keep the momentum going, if we can help people have conversations. It seems like in the past few semesters a lot more has been happening, it’s been pretty vibrant,” Watson said.

Walters expressed a similar sentiment. “I know there’s so many people who are political science majors, but they don’t really have the medium in which to discuss these issues other than class, so this is a great way to sort of do that with a student organization,” Walters said.