Tagged: politics

Forget booths and absentee ballots.

College students would rather vote using their thumbs, according to a study conducted by telecommunications giant AT&T.

AT&T conducted the survey on one of the most politically galvanized campuses in the nation -- Lynn University in Boca Raton.  American politics have played a major role at Lynn since last fall, when the university was chosen to host the last Presidential debate of 2012.

Out of nearly 300 students surveyed, 58 percent say they would use smartphones to cast their ballot if "mobile voting" were available.

Streaming The Florida Roundup Presidential Debate Special live from Lynn University!

Host Phil Latzman, along with a panel of journalists and political thinkers are discussing U.S. foreign policy - the subject of the presidential debate - as well as other issues important to Florida voters in this election.

Panel members include:

During the previous debate, our Dispatches from the Swing State team met an interesting character in a Key West pub -- a local server named Patti Wilde who is originally from Cincinnati and is something of a local celebrity.

Or, as she explains it, "I mean, I used to be. I've been here 30 years so they go, 'oh, Cincinnati Patti's here.' But now they don't do that anymore. They go, 'Larry!'"

"Larry" is Patti Wilde's cat -- a very large cat that sits calmly on the bar stool wherever she goes.

After the final vote is cast next month, the country may be in need of some healing and reconciliation.

That's the idea behind Election Day Communion.

Hundreds of churches across the country will be holding services election night and serving communion including one in South Florida.

Reverend Spencer Potter is the rector of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Palmetto Bay.

He says the service will be a time for the whole congregation to unite.

If you’re a small, private university with a less-than-stellar reputation, what’s a good way to boost your profile?

For Lynn University it was a no-brainer: Host one of the most important events in American politics.

"We've been waiting for this moment for a long time," says Dr. Kevin Ross, Lynn University's president.

The “moment” arrives on Monday, when President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney arrive on Lynn’s Boca Raton campus for the third and final presidential debate before Election Day.

Lynn University students are rolling out the digital red carpet for political watchers in advance of the last Presidential Debate of 2012.

The small Boca Raton university is hosting the final face-off between President Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney on Monday, October 22nd.

Lynn spokesman Joshua Glanzer says the university enlisted a core group of student volunteers to interact with Twitter and Facebook users within the school's new Social Media Lounge.

A wry symbol on a text message.

Last fall, that was the first inkling Lynn University President Kevin Ross had that his school would be making the history books.

“I was out at lunch and got a text that said, ‘You need to come back to campus immediately,’" recalls Ross.  “And it was with a smiley-face after it. So I knew it was good.”

A week from today, news outlets from all over the world are expected to converge upon Boca Raton's Lynn University for the third and final Presidential Debate of 2012.

And it looks like some foreign journalists won't be needing their pocket English dictionaries as much as they thought.

International students from more than 80 countries make up nearly a quarter of Lynn's student body. University officials say they've worked hard to locate students who will be able to serve as translators.

Florida's Attorney General, Pam Bondi, says she's not backing the state GOP's effort to oust three state Supreme Court Justices.

The Florida GOP is currently endorsing a conservative effort to remove Justices Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince from the Florida Supreme Court. All three are considered by conservatives to be the most liberal members of the Court-- and they are up for a merit retention vote this year. This means Floridians will vote on whether these judges get to keep their job at the state's highest court.

Anyone in Florida who has already gotten their absentee ballot for this year's presidential election will notice that there are a lot - A LOT - of ballot measures.

According to The Washington Post, voters all over the country will be voting on almost 200 ballot measures.