Tagged: Election 2012

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.

One of the constitutional amendments on the ballot this November takes on the controversial and politically charged issue of abortion.

Amendment 6, if passed, would prohibit public funding for abortions in the state, but it would also take away a right to privacy explicitly contained in Florida’s Constitution.

This has women’s rights activists in the state up in arms over concerns that this could be the beginning of greater abortion restrictions.

A Right To Privacy

In November, Floridians will decide whether or not to remove a state ban that prohibits the use of tax money for the funding of religious groups.

While the Catholic Church in the state remains one of the biggest proponents of this so-called “Religious Freedom” amendment, some religious leaders are weary of the measure.

Guillermo Marquez-Sterling, a pastor at the United Church of Christ in Coral Gables, says he’s concerned that, if Amendment 8 passes, if tax money could fund religious organizations, religious institutions like his will actually lose some of their freedom.

Reconciliation. Redemption. Binding up the nation's mostly self-inflicted wounds. There's going to be a need for all of that after this bitter election cycle is over.

And that need is where Election Communion Day comes from. More than 300 churches in 44 states have signed on to conduct services and offer communion right after the polls close on Election Day.

President Obama and Mitt Romney meet in their second presidential debate tonight in Hempstead, NY. Then, Boca Raton becomes the center of the political universe next Monday, October 22 when Lynn University hosts the final encounter between the two candidates 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.

At the urging of the Obama campaign, Florida voters are showing up at elections offices around the state to fill out absentee ballots.

This comes on the heels of elections supervisors in Broward and Palm Beach counties advising voters to get absentee ballots and mail them.

The reason: long ballots and possibly long waits.

For debate watchers, this MAY help you understand what you're seeing tonight. Mark Halperin at Time magazine has obtained the official 2012 presidential debate rules and put them on his blog.  This is the agreement reached by the two campaigns and neither the Commission on Presidential Debates nor the moderators were parties to it. Highlights below, see it all here.

What would happen if another candidate qualified for the debates.

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.”

This year, every proposed change to our state's Constitution placed on the ballot came from the state Legislature.

Experts and activists say that this is because getting an amendment on the ballot in Florida is harder than ever before for citizens, yet significantly easier for state lawmakers.

What Happened to Citizen-led Petitions?

Robin Rorapaugh of Hollywood is the president of a political consulting company that helps groups who want to get an issue on a ballot.