Election Day in photos

Voting on Election Day 2021 at Virginia Commonwealth University. (Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing)

Nov. 2, 2021

Election Day in photos

Scenes from campus as VCU students cast their votes.

Braving chilly early November temperatures and light rain throughout the day in Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University students made their way to the polls on Tuesday to vote as Virginians elected their next governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 members of the House of Delegates.

From mail-in-voting to turnout, VCU political science experts said they were watching many storylines as the votes were counted. Among them: tight statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general that, as of Wednesday morning, look to be close victories for Republican candidates Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Sears and Jason Miyares over Democrats Terry McAuliffe, Hala Ayala and Mark Herring, respectively, according to the Virginia Department of Elections. Republicans also appear to have retaken control of the House of Delegates, flipping seven seats, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Democrats had entered the election with a 55-45 seat advantage in the House.

All results are still unofficial, as absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day will be accepted until Nov. 5 at noon. Results will be certified Nov. 15. Meanwhile, back at VCU, university photographer Tom Kojcsich was on campus Tuesday to capture the scene at the university's two polling places, the Institute for Contemporary Art and University Student Commons:

Culture of voting

VCU has a longstanding culture of voter participation. In the 2018 midterm elections, 48.6% of registered VCU voters cast a ballot, compared with the national voting rate of 39.1% across all college campuses. In the 2016 presidential election, 61.5% of VCU students voted, outpacing the national voting rate of 50.4% among all higher education institutions, according to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement.

Earlier this fall, VCU was recognized as one of the best colleges in the U.S. for student voting. Days before the election, the student organization Young Democrats at VCU held a rally for McAuliffe that featured former President Barack Obama. And VCU Votes — a group of faculty, students, and staff members that coordinates campuswide voter engagement efforts — hosted several “get out the vote” events in the days ahead of Tuesday’s elections.