THE
ELECTION EDITION
Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916.
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2024
VOL. 108, ISSUE 12 Editor’s note: This edition has been updated from the print edition to correct date errors
Voters at Carbondale Civic Center wait hours
Carly Gist Lylee Gibbs cgist@dailyegyptian.com lgibbs@dailyegyptian.com
With only one poll booth running for grace period registration most of Tuesday, voters at the Carbondale Civic Center were waiting hours to cast their ballots if they registered the same day. At the entrance, poll workers were telling same-day registrants they would have around a three hour wait to vote. First-time voters Alexis Durr and Alyssa Peterson were near the front of the line at 5 p.m. when they told the Daily Egyptian they had been waiting four hours to vote. “I was really busy and didn’t have the time,” Peterson said, referring to grace period registration and early voting. “And then I also have my school address and my home address and – I don’t know – it was complicated.” Omar Tochimani, a junior studying automotive technology at SIU, said he thinks the school could have done a better job preparing students for the election. “I was told I wasn’t able to vote if I’m not in my county, and I was told about like an hour and a half ago I was still able to register for Jackson County, even though my state ID has my home address,” he said. “I feel southern Illinois could have done better letting the students know that they could still register to vote for Jackson County without change of address, so I feel this falls a lot on the chancellor and SIU itself, because a lot of this could have been avoided if they let students know ahead of time, ‘Hey you can register to vote for Jackson County without change of address.’” According to University Director of Communications Kim Rendfeld, CIVIC CENTER | 5
Southern Illinois Republicans gather to watch election results
Jerry Ross and his son Brandon Ross drink a beer and watch the polls at a watch party Nov. 5, 2024 at the Grecian Steakhouse in Pinckneyville, Illinois. Enan Chediak | @enanchediak Ryan Grieser rgrieser@dailyegyptian.com
Members of the Perry County Republican Party gathered at the Grecian Steak House in
Pinckneyville, Illinois, to take in election results. While there wasn’t any question who the attendees voted for, there was a differing sense of security
surrounding a Donald Trump victory. “That’s always a concern,” Mike Fisher said. “It could be either or,” Penny
Hawk said. While Fisher and Hawk were uneasy about whether Trump or Kamala Harris would win, Jessie
REPUBLICANS | 7
Cervantez and Cascio-Hale tie in state attorney race Morrigan Carey mcarey@dailyegyptian.com
Jackson County election results released early Wednesday morning show state’s attorney candidates Joseph Cervantez and Marsha Cascio-Hale tied with exactly
10,805 votes each. Both candidates attended watch parties in Murphysboro on election night. Cervantez, as well as other Republican candidates like county coroner candidate Kent Arnold and Circuit Clerk candidate Chris
Maynor, went to Brews Brothers Taproom. Cascio-Hale went to the Plumbers and Pipefitters Hall less than 500 feet away, along with Democratic Circuit Clerk candidate Christian Hale, who is CascioHale’s husband.
Spirits were high in both candidates early election night, and Cervantez was leading most of the night by 20% with just over 25% of registered voters in the county, compared to 69.41% total voter TIE | 3