Misc.11.05.2020

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The Miscellany News November 5, 2020

miscellanynews.org

Vassar College’s student newspaper of record since 1866 Volume 154 | Issue 10

With presidential race still uncalled, New York’s Election Day hints at possible winners and historic voter turnout A

Top row, left to right: Kyle Van De Water, Rep. Antonio Delgado, County Court Judge Peter Forman, Jessica Segal. Bottom row, left to right: Sen. Sue Serino, Karen Smythe, Chele Farley, Rep. Sean Maloney. Aena Khan/The Miscellany News.

Inside this issue

8

Katie Gebbia

“The Queen’s Gambit” depicts addiction, loss and teenage girlhood.

15

OPINIONS

StuMu among orgs hit hardest by COVID regulations.

16 SPORTS

The time of athletes “sticking to sports” is over, argues Sports Editor Alex Eisert.

ocrats prefer absentee and early voting. It will take a week or more for Dutchess County’s more than 29,096 absentee ballots to be tabulated. Board of Elections officials expect to receive more by the Nov. 10 deadline for mail-in ballots. While Election Day doesn’t mark the end, the night might hint at who comes out on top in some key races. NY-19 Congressional District Incumbent Democrat Antonio Delgado has declared victory against challenger Republican Kyle Van De Water to represent New York’s 19th Congressional District. Results began pouring in at 9 p.m. on Nov. 3. Delgado started off the night pulling in a large lead over Van De Water with nearly 70 percent of the votes, and Van De Water closer to 30 percent, with 18 percent of the votes reported. The race tightened in the early hours of the morning, but Delgado maintained the majority. At noon on Wednesday, Delgado declared victory, but results are not See Elections on page 4

Vassar Campus theater returns with ‘The Aliens’ students form union T Guest Columnist

ARTS

s Americans crowded around television sets and computer screens on Nov. 3, tensions were high. Despite hopes of a conclusive end to an anxiety-ridden election season, New Yorkers and many across the country will have to wait days or weeks to see the final outcomes of local, state and congressional races. The presidential election is similarly up in the air, with neither President Donald Trump nor Joe Biden receiving the required 270 electoral electoral votes. This is in large part due to the deluge of mail-in ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic. For now, Election Day is only one piece of the process. New York Board of Elections officials released the tallies of some 2.5 million early voting ballots when polls closed at 9 p.m. Election Day results were updated through the night. Of the 33,432 ballots cast across Dutchess between Oct. 27 and Nov. 1, 54 percent were from Democrats and 20.3 percent from Republicans. Voters turned out in record numbers, but mail-in ballots could turn the tide of some races. Republicans are more likely to vote on Election Day, while Dem-

Lucille Brewster News Editor

When Vassar canceled in-person classes last spring due to COVID-19, decisions such as whether student employees would be paid, whether students who needed housing could stay on campus and whether campus services such as Metcalf would be available were up in the air. Students organized several campaigns and petitions to voice their concerns to the Vassar administration. The College ultimately did provide on-campus housing to students and offered various forms of support to students both on and off campus. Yet a petition for a Universal Pass grading system, signed by half of the Vassar community, was not enough to persuade administration to implement the policy. For Vassar Student Association (VSA) Senator Joe Mangan ’23, the College’s response to COVID-19 was a realization that Vassar students have no tangible leverage with the college leadership and Board of Trustees. “The fact of the matter is that there’s not much the VSA could have done if the administration See VSU on page 5

he setting is the quiet back patio of a coffee shop, somewhere in rural Vermont. Three young men, KJ, Jasper and Evan, sit among the folding chairs and picnic tables, talking and smoking while the early July nights blend into one another and their lives unfold before the audience. This is “The Aliens,” written by

Annie Baker and recently directed by Louis Blachman ’23. “I’ve been directing in my head forever—I used to put on plays with my friends on play-dates— but I’ve never had the resources or actors to until now,” Blachman wrote in an emailed statement. This past summer, he directed two virtual plays and fell in love with the process. Now, Blachman has taken on perhaps

the most challenging project in his budding career: directing a pandemic production When asked why he chose this show for his in-person directorial debut, Blachman shared, “I felt shattered after reading it for the first time. It feels like such a miniature epic—so little happens and yet everything happens.” See Theater on page 6

Krakower appointed to Town Board Jessica Moss

Contributing Editor

I

n the run-up to Election Day, Town of Poughkeepsie government officials had to make a decision without direct voter input: who to appoint to the Town Board seat vacated by Democratic Ward Five Councilperson Matt Woolever. The appointee would hold the position until Dec. 31, 2021. On Oct. 21, the Town Board voted 4-2 along party lines to appoint Stephan Krakower, a Republican who previously served as Ward 5 Councilperson for some 14 years. On Oct. 25, the Town of Poughkeepsie Democratic Committee released a statement which described the move as “a travesty and a violation of the civic rights of the voters of Ward 5.” Woolever vacated his post on Aug. 31, 2020 when he and his

family moved to Hyde Park. He was first elected to the seat in 2017, and was reelected in 2019 with 824 votes to his opponent’s 749. Krakower was first elected to the Town Board in 2000 and served consecutive two-year terms until he vacated his post in March 2015 after being appointed to the Town of Poughkeepsie Justice Court, which has two seats. He served as Town Justice from 2015 to 2019. He ran for reelection in November 2019, but lost by just nine votes. During the Oct. 21 proceedings, Town Supervisor Jon Jay Baisley noted that although Krakower lost the judgeship, he was elected to represent Ward 5 on the Town Board every time he ran, sometimes by a large margin: In 2009, for instance, he won 756 votes to Above, a map of the Town of Poughkeepsie Wards. his Democratic opponent’s 532. Courtesy of Dutchess County Board of Elections. See Board on page 3


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