Election 2014 in video and pictures: Afternoon

Story posted November 4, 2014 in

Centre County residents began voting at 7 a.m. today in an election that will determine the next governor of Pennsylvania.

One Day A Year

 

Rick Gilmore takes one day off every year working for the election committee at State College. Although he is a full time associated professor of psychology at Penn State, Gilmore believes that it is everyone’s responsibility to support the election. So if he has class on the election day he will cancel that class and volunteer for the committee.

~ Ruoyi Li

Oops

 

Kelly Mark’s Election Day experience is probably one she hopes she doesn’t repeat.

~ Shuray McCallum

Voter Confusion in Bellefonte

 


Deborah Flavin is the Executive Director of the Centre County Republican Party. Her usual Election Day responsibilities include checking in on the candidates, organizing volunteers, and replacing signs that have been pulled up. This year, however, she faced a challenge that was completely new to her. Signs that read "No Trespassing" had been put up at a Bellefonte precinct on 303 Forge Road, leaving voters unsure about whether to enter.

~ John Dillard

Campaigning for Re-election




Incumbent Pennsylvania Representative Scott Conklin takes time out from campaigning outside of the Oakwood Centre in State College to dusicuss the midterm elections. 

~ Melissa Grisewood 

Campaigning in the 81st
 


Ian Thompson is campaigning for Rich Irvin, a Republican candidate for the 81st District seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Irvin's opponent is incumbent State Representative Mike Fleck, who lost to Irvin in the Republican primary but emerged as the
victorious write-in candidate in the Democratic primary. Thompson paused in his campaigning this afternoon to explain the importance of voting in this election.

~ Bessie Floresgomez 

Marshalling the Democratic vote
 


The lead-up to this year's midterm election has been extremely busy for Luis Rolfo, communications chair for the Penn State College Democrats. Apart from organizing active campaigns and facilitating voter registration on campus, his team has worked closely with the Centre County Democratic Committee.

~Akash Ghai

 

Making college student voices heard

 


Carmine Saloman is a Penn State senior who joined the student group "Penn State Works," which is a pro labor group. He came out today to campaign for Tom Wolf and encourage other Penn State students to vote. He says that he believes there are issues that affect everyone and voting is a way for students' voices to be heard.

~ Carla McDuffie 

 

A voter for seven decades

 


Albert E. Stevenson is an election official working today at Friends Meetinghouse in State College. His day began at 6 a.m. and won't finish until 9:30 when he brings the ballots to Bellefonte.

Shocked by only 50 completed ballots of the 1,200 registered voters, Stevenson reminisces about how politics and the right to vote has always been an important part of his life. He says, "You don't get to change things you can't change. You have to live with it. If you could change it, make a change. And with elections, you can make a change."

~ Alanna Haefner

The Voice of Experience

 


Jeff Kern is a State College resident who has worked as an election official for the past 15 years. He is currently helping to run the poll booths at the Chinese Alliance Church at 1117 William St. which serves as both a church and preschool. While he says he has seen an influx of young people and first time voters exhibiting a generation of voter turnover, he believes that many more students and young people should be voting and getting involved in the community.

~ Sydney Grau

Meet the Candidate
 

Scott Conklin is the Pennsylvania State Representative for the 77th legislative district in Centre County.  Conklin was campaigning one more time this election season, spending Election Day outside the polls greeting voters.

~ Patrick Groundwater

High School Students Help with Election at Penn State
 


A high school student named Danny from Bellefonte helps out with voting at the HUB-Robeson Center during the Nov. 4 election.

~ Sarah Caskie

First Time Voter
 


Penn State sophomore Terrin Hartman voted for the first time this election day.  Though he is from San Diego, California, he believes making a vote that affects Pennsylvania will only benefit him and his classmates during their time while at Penn State.

~ by Kelsie Johnson

I Just Don't Like Him
 

Seth Krepps is a fourth year Computer Engineering student who is involved on campus as an RA and is also involved in the military.  Despite the low student voter turnout for the midterm elections, he made sure that he came out to cast his vote and make his voice heard.

~ Nicole Suder

Having A Voice

Volunteers from various parties attended the HUB today to encourage students to get to the polls. While Governor Tom Corbett’s race against opponent Tom Wolf was among the most popular topics, one student, Eric Jacobs, spent the afternoon supporting Glenn Thompson.

~ Victoria Burdo

Confidence In The Process
 

Mellvin Willem has been volunteering at the Unity Church polling location for three years. His time working as an Election Day volunteer has taught him to have faith in our system; revealing to him the detail and preparation that truly goes into the running of an election.

~ Thomas Simmons

One  In A Million Matters
 

Taylor Griffin, a Phoenix, Arizona native believes every political race an important one, whether in your home state or not.  She believes that even though you may only be one-in-a-million, you still have the ability to enact a positive advance in the political system.

~ Samantha Haig

Every Vote Counts
 

 PJ Monella campaigned for State Representative Scott Conklin outside the HUB polling station on Election Day. Monella believes Conklin's support for education makes him the best candidate. Conklin's opponent was the Charles Martin, a Penn State student running as a Libertarian. 

~ Mark Leskovansky

About the Contributors

Thomas Simmons's photo

Thomas Simmons

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

Thomas Simmons is a senior from Chesapeake, Virginia majoring in broadcast journalism with a minor in business. He is a host, producer and play-by-play announcer for ComRadio while also serving as one of the station’s production directors. Thomas’s other experiences include interning as a production assistant for ESPN Radio 94.1 and Entercom in Norfolk, VA.

Thomas is interested in pursuing a career as a talk-show-host, producer, analyst, or play-by-play broadcaster. You may contact Thomas via email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or tweet @Thomas_Simmons_.

Mark Leskovansky's photo

Mark Leskovansky

Senior /

Mark is a Penn State student who will be graduating in May 2015 with a Baccalaureate degree in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Kinesiology.  He had a talk show with ComRadio at Penn State called the Mike and Mark show.  He also had experience writing articles for the ComRadio station, called play-by-play for various sports and cut sound for the weekly radio shows.  He also worked various jobs at Penn State University including the Penn State Libraries, HUB Robeson center and personal training for Penn State Strength and Fitness.  He hopes to find a job in the sports or fitness world after school.

Melissa Grisewood's photo

Melissa Grisewood

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

I would like to be a news anchor in the broadcast industry, or a sports sideline reporter.

John Dillard's photo

John Dillard

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

I’m interested in creating long form journalism stories.

Bessie Floresgomez's photo

Bessie Floresgomez

Graduate / New Media

My art practice focuses on social issues related to Hispanic immigration, discrimination and lack of identity of the Hispanic community in the U.S. These issues became very important in my art work and personal life when I emigrated to the U.S., when I felt out of place, an outsider.

Sydney Grau's photo

Sydney Grau

Junior / Photojournalism, Anthropology

Alanna Haefner's photo

Alanna Haefner

Senior / Broadcast Journalism & Political Science

Akash Ghai's photo

Akash Ghai

Junior / Visual Journalism

Akash is a documentary photographer from India interested in exploring issues facing the younger generation of immigrants and political refugees.

Sarah Caskie's photo

Sarah Caskie

Senior / Journalism

I’m currently a fourth year student at Penn State University working towards a degree in Journalism. I have experience in both print and broadcast mediums. I’m currently a staff writer with the country’s most-read student media outlet, Onward State. I also work as a producer on the B94.5 Morning Zoo, a morning radio show in Centre County.

Carla McDuffie's photo

Carla McDuffie

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

An aspiring entertainment journalist who hopes to own her own broadcast station in the future.

Nicole Suder's photo

Nicole Suder

Senior / Public Relations

Nicole is a senior at Penn State who will be graduating in May 2015 with a Baccalaureate degree in Public Relations with minors in Business and Entrepreneurship Innovation. During her college career Nicole has been a very active member of The Penn State Thespians and has been the chair person for their production of MasquerAIDS for both the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 school years. Nicole has also been involved in Valley Magazine and the College of Communications student council. She also works part time at Nittany Notes in State College, PA.

This past summer she interned at The Star Group, a communications agency in Philadelphia, PA., where she learned several new public relations skills. Before this internship she had also used public relations loosely during her internships at The Bryce Jordan Center and Beasley Broadcast Group.

Upon graduating Nicole hopes to find a position that will challenge her and allow her to interact with interesting people every day.

Victoria Burdo's photo

Victoria Burdo

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

Victoria Burdo is a senior at Penn State University, graduating in Spring 2015 with a major in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Business and Liberal Arts. Throughout her education, Burdo has taken a variety of classes that have greatly increased her love for broadcasting, as well as expanded her knowledge in the field by providing the tools and resources to kick start a career in broadcast journalism. She has experience interviewing, writing, editing and working in the studio.

Victoria started out working as a sales representative at Specialty Answering Service. She also has experience working as a content creator for Spotted Frog Web Design, as a compliance intern at Philadelphia Insurance Companies, and most recently, as a programming intern at 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia. Burdo has been part of Penn State Network Television’s PSN News, where she worked as a reporter, writer and editor.

Burdo is working towards her goals of becoming a news reporter in the Philadelphia area. She hopes to take advantage of as many opportunities she has while at Penn State before jumping into the fast-paced world of journalism. She also hopes to have the opportunity to branch into the entertainment industry and work as a local photographer in her free time.

Ruoyi Li's photo

Ruoyi Li

Junior / Visual Journalism

Ruoyi is a Penn State undergraduate student with a major in visual journalism, a concurrent major in psychology and a minor in Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies. She has been working on journalism since high school as an editor and photographer for her high school yearbook. She also has published an photo story on a Chinese magazine named “Mingyuezhong” and the abstract was printed onto the cover of that issue of the magazine as a main topic. Interned at Magic Bean House Learning Center as an multidimensional assistant in summer of 2013 and 2014, she was able to experience different aspect of a educational institution ranging from media production to time management.

Ruoyi will be graduating in May 2016. She hopes to find a position where she is allowed to continue her passion for multimedia producing and photo story-telling. She hopes to attend graduate school in the near future to explore more about journalism.

Patrick Groundwater's photo

Patrick Groundwater

Senior / Broadcast Journalism, Sociology Minor

  I am a Penn State graduate from Virginia with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Broadcast Journalism.  I am enthusiastic to seek a professional career in live television production.  I have had experience in live production with Penn State Athletics and with B94.5 the Morning Zoo Radio Show.

Kelsie Johnson's photo

Kelsie Johnson

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

Kelsie is a senior studying broadcast journalism.  She is originally from the Des Moines, Iowa area and before coming to Penn State as a sophomore, attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco to study film and fashion.  Upon graduation in spring 2015, she aspires to write and direct films.