On one of the most competitive Super Tuesdays to date, 24 states held caucuses or primaries for the presidential election yesterday. Up for grabs were 52 percent of the Democratic Party delegates and 41 percent of the Republican Party delegates. Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, three states from which many Tufts students hail, were amongst the 24 states participating.
Though Democratic Party candidates Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) were vying to take the lead, a surprising number of students on the traditionally liberal Tufts' campus did not vote on Super Tuesday for various reasons.
Senior Max Weiss, who hails from New York, said that he did not vote in Super Tuesday because he was confused about the date of the New York state primary.
"I forgot to fill out my absentee ballot," Weiss said. "I thought that New York was in March. It's for the best though. I couldn't decide whether to vote for Hillary or Obama, so I didn't have to agonize over it. I'm curious to see what happens. I like both the candidates. Maybe I purposefully forgot."
Sophomore Julia Mitarotondo also did not know who she would have voted for.
"I didn't vote because I didn't register," Mitarotondo said. "I'm not from this state [Massachusetts]. I don't know who I would have voted for."
Senior Yoni Meyer also said that he did not regret his decision to not vote on Super Tuesday. "I didn't vote because I didn't think that an absentee ballot would be that pertinent in a primary," Meyer said.
However, had he voted, Meyer said that he would have selected Obama. "I think he doesn't represent the stereotypical Washington politician," Meyer said.
Similarly to Meyer, freshman Tiffany Hall-D'Accordo did not register for an absentee ballot, but said that she would have voted for Obama.
"No, I didn't register for an absentee ballot because I am lazy," Hall-D'Accordo said. "I probably would have voted for Obama. I think most of my views correlate with his, like his timeline coming out of Iraq and his ideas regarding healthcare."
Sophomore Jennifer Bollenbacher, who holds a seat on the College Democrats executive board, voted for Obama in yesterday's primary.
"I voted for Obama because I agree with his policies and think he's the perfect change from the Bush-Clinton-Bush administrations," Bollenbacher said.
Sophomore Jonathan Zindman said that he did not vote in the primary, but that he would have supported Republican candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
I should have [voted], but I didn't," Zindman said. "I would have supported John McCain because his views coincide with what my views would be. I wouldn't have voted for him over Rudy Guiliani, but I knew Guiliani wasn't going to win. John McCain also has great experience with foreign policy."
