More than 140 Syracuse University students will canvas Central New York on Election Day to tell human stories of democracy. The undergraduate and graduate students from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications will visit 80 polling stations on Tuesday for a project called Democracy in Action, said Charlotte Grimes, Knight Professor of Political Reporting at Newhouse. The project will...
More than 140 Syracuse University students will canvas Central New York on Election Day to tell human stories of democracy.
The undergraduate and graduate students from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications will visit 80 polling stations on Tuesday for a project called Democracy in Action, said Charlotte Grimes
Charlotte GrimesThe project will teach students how to gather Election Day news and give the public more than just poll results, Grimes said.
“It’s to capture vignettes,” she said. “When you have that many feet on the ground and that many eyes and ears, you can really capture the spirit and the mood.”
From 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., teams of four students will travel to polling places in Liverpool, Skaneateles, Syracuse and other suburbs to interview voters and report on any election day hiccups, Grimes said.
Using Skype, an Internet video conferencing service, students will post videos to the project website almost instantly, said Chris Tuohey, broadcast and digital journalism professor at Newhouse.
“We’re trying to give them a sense of what it’s like to work for a broadcast organization doing election coverage,” Tuohey said. “We’re going to have more boots on the ground...than any professional news organization can put out there.”
Grimes does not believe that their coverage will sway people’s votes.
“I hope if it sways anybody in any sense, it will convince them that going to the polls and voting is an absolutely worthwhile activity — something that they should do,” she said.
Each team will be equipped with computers, video cameras, voice recorders and digital cameras.
Billy Holbert, a graduate student in broadcast and digital journalism, and Kathleen Ronayne, a junior newspaper major, will visit the polling stations at Camillus Elks Lodge 2367 and West Genesee High School from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This will be the first time Ronayne will do local election day reporting.
“I think it’s a really great way for us to learn all about political reporting,” she said.
Contact Fernando Alfonso III at falfonso@syracuse.com.
Follow along
Go to www.syracuse.com or www.dia-cny.com/electionday Tuesday to follow the Newhouse students as they cover area polls on Election Day.
Stay tuned to syracuse.com all day Tuesday for up-to-the-minute reports on the elections.