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Shae-Lynn Henderson

OPINION: Learning About the Elections as an International Student


One thing about American politics is that it is big news pretty much everywhere. I have grown up watching the election results come in on the screen for as long as I can remember and could always appreciate the impact that election seasons have had over the years. These last few months and weeks marked my first experience of witnessing the election season happen before my eyes. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced and almost felt unreal in a lot of ways.

As an international student from South Africa and the Editor in Chief of a school newspaper, I found myself in a unique, and honestly confusing space. I wanted to be very conscientious about the information and topics we covered, trying to be as accurate and up-to-date as possible. This was a tricky time to navigate as someone who arguably knows very little about American politics. In navigating the current political climate, I had many productive conversations and learnt a lot about how the voting process works. I had a lot of words thrown my way like “red mirage,” “blue shift,” “electoral college,” “swing states,” and a lot more honestly. I genuinely found myself invested in each opponent's campaign, but I also felt bombarded and overwhelmed most of the time. In even more of a shift, I found it difficult to talk about the elections freely and impartially based on the tension that election season seemed to garner, which is understandable. Maybe it is the sheer size of the US or the fact that I have spent the last South African election season predominantly in the US, or even just the nature of this election, but I definitely felt the weight of these elections more than any other.

On election day and the day after, I woke up feeling anxious, and I couldn’t even vote. I was refreshing my page continuously and waiting for updates to come in. Even as someone with arguably less stakes in the elections, I knew that regardless of who won, it was going to be historic. And it was. Walking into classes, there were people missing, and scrolling on social media, it was flurried with joy, sadness, anger, fear, and pretty much every emotion in between. It felt strange, almost like looking from the outside in and wondering where I belonged in this equation, or if I even belonged in the equation at all.

I think that I was also just amazed by the pace at which everything was done. Between going to bed at 11 p.m. and waking up at 7 a.m., the results were practically in. I know that a lot of it is based on polls and predictions based on who is leading, but even so, I was impressed. 

What was really fascinating for me to see was the comparison between the South African elections and the US. Please be sure to take everything I say with a grain of salt, because I am in no way an expert in politics in general, but rather this is my understanding. So, for starters, in America there is the Democratic Party and the Republican Party that “dominate the political field” and in South Africa, there are several political parties, according to the U.S. Embassy & Consulate in the Kingdom of Denmark and gov.za websites respectively. Now, in South Africa there are usually clear leading parties and representatives of these parties (usually a top three), but to me, it feels like you are voting more on the basis of the stances of the party and less so an individual’s campaign. Similar to America, South Africa held one of its most crucial general elections earlier this year. CNN and many other sources described the last elections as one of the most pivotal since the end of Apartheid, with these elections leading to the African National Congress (ANC) losing its super majority for the first time in 30 years, according to NPR

To me, it just feels so strange to be part of and experience two major elections in the span of a few months. While I was home, I got to vote and do my civic duty. Despite how influential this election was, I feel like I knew who was going to win. On the other hand, I did believe that the US elections would be much closer than it turned out to be. I know that I did not vote in the general elections here, but I do care about the elections and the impact that these elections have had and will have on the community I know and the country as a whole. I have always cared about the results, but it certainly feels like a different type of feeling after experiencing some formative years here.

I feel both privileged and confused to live in this cultural chasm I find myself in, almost floating between two worlds and two cultures that have a lot of overlap but also a lot of differences in how elections are perceived and handled. It is difficult to know how to navigate the political climate in America, to know what can be spoken about and what cannot and how to exist in a space where you have built a life but are also unsure of what your role is in this particular climate. I have learnt a lot about myself and the elections in general throughout this process and hope that maybe others can relate to these feelings and know they are not alone in feeling like they are trying to tread in the deep waters we call politics.


By Shae-Lynn Henderson, EIC

Photo courtesy of and graphic by Shae-Lynn Henderson

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