Professors are also participating in the election day buzz while students continue to vote at Kent’s poll locations. 

David Silva, an assistant professor for communication studies and emerging media and technologies, said he thinks the results won’t be announced until later in the week.

“Maybe early morning, we might have guesses at where it might be called,” he said. “If it is close and there are recounts, it could be a couple of days. I mean it will almost certainly be a few days before it’s officially accounted for.” 

A common theme throughout the day has been the belief that the results won’t be announced right away. 

Jennifer Meyer, a senior secretary for the English department, was a faculty member during the 2016 and 2020 elections and said she remembers it took about four days for the results to be officially announced. 

Meyer said the days following past elections were calm and believes the trend will continue for the 2024 election. 

“We have a lot of really nice students this year,” she said. 

Silva emphasized the election is seen as a competition and students will need to take the time to process that. 

“There is a side that will win and a side that will lose and when the results are called, there will be winners and losers,” Silva said. “That means we need to negotiate our identities on either side. That’s called identity maintenance.”

Silva hopes students will give themselves the time to self-reflect and process the results. 

“It’s a potentially difficult process,” he said. “It means we got to examine what we think and what we believe and what we value. Just give that space and time and then get back to talking about politics after that; the world continues.” 

Aryn Kauble is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].