Over the past week, many Americans have spent hours in line waiting to vote for their preferred presidential candidate.         Now the day for America to see who will run their country for the next four years is dawning upon us.

On Tuesday, families will congregate around the television, citizens will flock to the nearest community gathering — but where will you be on election night?

On Nov. 6, Illinois State University’s Black Student Union will host an Election Watch Party with multiple organizations — Phi Beta Sigma, Kappa Alpha Psi, Asian Pacific American Coalition, Association of Latin American Students, PRIDE and American Democracy Project — in the Prairie Room from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

These organizations collectively hope to inform the ISU community, while also providing a place for people to watch the election together.

Genesis Smith, sophomore public relations major, is president of Illinois State University’s Black Student Union.

As she has been a part of BSU since her freshmen year, she explains the importance of the organization.

“BSU is an organization that targets minority students, specifically African-Americans. We seek to host events that promote community service, social and community bonding, unity and connections with faculty and staff on campus,” Smith said.

Smith added that BSU has hosted other events in order to prepare for this year’s election.

“We hosted a voter’s registration event in September. Three executive board members signed up to be deputy registrars so that we could register other people to vote,” Smith said.

“So we had an event where we informed students about each presidential candidate, then we took it upon ourselves to register students as well,” she explained.

“We decided to have a watch party because we thought we could co-sponsor with a lot of people. We wanted everyone to get together as a campus and watch the election together in one room for the entire day. Since one thing that BSU promotes is unity, we want everyone to be able to come together and watch the election in one setting,” Smith added.

“We are expecting 300 to 400 students, and it will be located in the Prairie Room South and Center. Students may bring their homework, and we will have refreshments throughout the day,” Smith said.

“We will have two large projector screens that will be showing the election. We’ll also have many tables set up so they can sit and watch a live viewing,” Smith explained.

“Students can expect to meet new people because it is open to the entire campus, as well as eat and have a good time. We may have a speaker at this event, so there might be some educational benefits as well,” she added.