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Writer's pictureEvie Campbell

What to know about this election

Updated: Nov 13


Art by Claire Duarte


Nationwide news. International information. America’s presidential election was one that was anticipated all across the world, and most importantly, in our community. This matters due to the large number of local elections happening at the same time. 


Many local community leaders are up for re-election, including Democratic Representative Jimmy Gomez, who is running against another Democrat David Kim. Gomez came away with the win.


A long-time member of California’s Senate, Diane Feinstein passed away last year. Therefore, a new up and coming candidate must fill her place. Two political veterans, Adam Schiff, who was on the January 6th insurrection committee, and Steve Garvey, a past Major League Baseball star ran for election. In the end, Schiff won.


Los Angeles’ well known homelessness problem has been a recurring part of the city for a long time. Measure 1 is an example of one of the many attempts to solve this. In this version, raising taxes on goods is used to “fund new approaches to addressing the crisis.” (LAist, Voter Game Plan). This prop was passed.


In terms of LAUSD, “Three seats are up for grabs on the powerful board that oversees the nation’s second-largest school district. LAUSD faces enormous challenges, including funding shortfalls, chronic absenteeism, and safety concerns.” (LAist, Voter Game Plan). Jackie Goldberg, the most well-known Board President of the school board, is retiring, as well as “member George McKenna, announc[ing] their retiremen[t] last year, leaving an open field for Districts 1 and 5”. Additionally, an Eagle Rock student’s mother, Karla Griego, is running against Graciela Ortiz to fill Goldberg’s place. Griego won.


Two major presidential candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, faced off this November as well, in one of the most controversial and highly anticipated matchups in the last decade. If Harris had won, she would have become the first female president of the United States. 


On election night, the polls started off with Trump in the lead, however, a few states were projected early. In the end, Trump won, and he will begin his second term next year. For many citizens of the U.S., and especially in a mainly Democratic state, his presidency is very controversial.


Here at ERHS, I polled a total of 10 members of the Journalism class at Eagle Rock to find out how our school was feeling about the election, in retrospect to the rest of the country.


In the end, most people were not old enough to vote, however if they could vote, 100% of them said that they would vote for Harris. However, considering the demographic of people who were polled, this may not be an accurate representation of California in general, or ERHS overall.


In terms of how everyone was feeling about this election, 6 people said that they were very nervous about the election (9-10 on a scale of 1-10), and 6 people said that they were between a 1 and 3 on a scale of 1-10 about feeling excited. 


Student Opinions:

“While the prospect of this election being a history-making one no matter the results is very exciting, I find myself in this awful, apathetic-yet-anxious limbo. As a young woman, I'm very disturbed by the rhetoric surrounding abortion this election cycle--especially this idea of "no exception" policies. I have always found elections tedious with the navigating of people's deeply held beliefs and although the experience of voting felt quite empowering, the word "Tuesday" has begun to fill me with dread." Vivienne Freeman, 12th grade
“I am insanely frustrated at how stupid the American people can be. I'm lucky to live in California, so not much will change, but it's insane to me how many people voted for an orange convicted felon (respectfully.) Not only is it an embarrassment, but it will lead to an infringement on our rights and values as American people." Sophie Seifert, 10th grade
“I’m nervous because I can’t have an effect on it since I’m too young to vote, however the outcome of the election is going to have a big effect on me. Particularly since I’m a woman, if Trump is elected president, a lot of the policies that he and a lot of his supporters want to put in place greatly limit and inhibit my civil rights. I also don’t want a racist, sexist, convicted felon who’s a sex offender and stole millions of dollars from New York (among other things) as my president." Nyda Hosack, 10th grader

Congratulations to everyone who voted on the 5th! 

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why did barely anyone vote for my nephew

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