The Department of Public and International Affairs and the Middle East Studies Program
A University of Virginia/George Mason University poll shows Mitt Romney with a slim 1 percentage point lead over President Barack Obama in Virginia.
The poll showed 46 percent of registered voters are supporting Mitt Romney with 45 percent supporting President Obama. The poll also found that 2 percent are still undecided and another 2 percent are backing another candidate. The poll surveyed 641 registered voters in Virginia and has a margin of error of plus or minus four.
In a statement, Thomas Guterbock provided more detailed information about the registered voters that were polled. Guterbock said, “Slightly less than three-quarters of the voters backing each candidate say their support is very strong, with a large majority of undecided voters unwilling to report leaning toward a particular candidate.”
Third party candidates such as Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein could have an affect on the final outcome.
Virginia has 13 Electoral College votes. President Obama won the state in the 2008. Mitt Romney hopes to turn the state red again. The state is very important to both men’s path to the all important 270 Electoral College number.
GMU Student Govenrment held the first of a series of “Flash Lectures” on October 17, 2012. The flash lecture was a debate with an election spin to inform students more about issues. The debate featured Professor Bryan Caplan and Professor Steven Pearlstein who spoke on the question of “should government withdraw from and active role in providing and subsidizing higher education?”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKYvLYynVSM[/youtube]
Monday, October 22, Arlington Campus Debate Watch Program, 7:30pm, Founders Hall Auditorium.
The Debate Watch will include a panel discussion. The panelists will be:
The topic of the discussion will be The Obama doctrine vs. The Romney doctrine of foreign policy.
Connect2Mason was on scene at the Mason Votes Vice Presidential Debate Watch Party October 11, 2012. Here is what students had to say about the debate and Presidential race so far.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPlnvhJJ7Ns&list=UU1TuP1898FOdPrvng_HGDCA[/youtube]
My name is Michael Lore and I am the Virginia Grassroots Poll Monitor Volunteer Coordinator for Common Cause. The 2012 election is upon us and VA is a battleground state with new districts and new identification standards at the polls. I applaud you for your interest to be an engaged citizen on Election Day 2012. We are a non-partisan coalition of groups that seeks fair and open elections with as much participation as possible. (www.866ourvote.org)
The roll of a grassroots poll monitor is fairly simple. Although you will learn the specifics when you are trained, the basic idea is that you would serve as a frequently asked question guide outside the polls. Most of the time will be spent helping citizens who are confused about their polling place or whether they can vote on a regular ballot or provisional, you would serve as a first line of defense and a go-between with our command centers around the state and national offices. Overall, we need boots on the ground to help voters and relay problems to our central offices so we can examine trends and alert the election officials of the problems. You will not be an election official, you will be the non-partisan citizen oversight of those officials from a distance.
In 2008 I was an election protection volunteer in Virginia and the experience gave me the reward of a patriotic pride of participation in our democratic process. As a grassroots election protection volunteer you will be a true participant in the process, without a partisan hat. However, if you so desire, you can put your partisan hat on, once you have taken off the Election Protection shirt, you must also however go to a different polling place than where you were volunteering.
Just a reminder, Election Day is November 6th and your participation in the grassroots poll monitoring program will require a commitment to work several hours on Election Day and to be trained to handle your role outside the polls before Election Day where you will be assigned to a polling place near you, or if you are available to one of the more contentious areas in the state. Spanish speaking individuals are especially desired.
Please sign up at this link TODAY.
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50015/p/salsa/web/questionnaire/public/?questionnaire_KEY=1297
The trainings will begin next week (NOVA: Saturday Oct 20th 10am-12pm or Friday Oct 26th 6-8pm) and we are trying to determine if we will require additional trainings, so please sign up as soon as possible. Do not hesitate to call or email if you have any questions prior to the trainings, but training info will be found on the electronic sign-up sheet at the link above and we will be in touch when you have signed up. I know you are busy with day-to-day responsibilities, so we will ensure that your time is truly appreciated and not wasted.
Regards,
Michael
