About 100 student names were selected at the Presidential Debate ticket lottery yesterday morning in front of Sturm Hall at 9:45 a.m. Roughly 100 students and media personnel attended the event.

“After all these months of preparation and these events, it’s finally happening,” said Chancellor Robert Coombe.

There  were  a  total  of  1,500 names  in  the  lottery  wheel. Names  were  randomly  selected beforehand  from  a  digital  pool  of over  11,000 students.  Twenty-five thousand  additional  names  collected  from    students’  attendance to Passport events were also added into  the  pool.  Fifteen-hundred names  were  randomly  picked from the updated digital pool. All current students and students who graduated in 2012 were entered.

According to Coombe, there have been over 100 debate-related events on campus attended by more than 25,000 participants.

“I’d like to say thank you to all of the students for making this debate what it is going to be,” said Coombe.

Several students whose names were drawn were present at the ticket drawing, including freshman Cole Ortega.

“I feel pretty excited,” said Ortega. “I walked out of Driscoll and that was the first thing I heard.”

Graduate student Paul Macias said he didn’t expect his name to be drawn.

“I had a few tickets in there, but I thought my chances were slim to none,” said Macias.
Sophomore Jordan Rook said he thinks being present at the debate will be a little overwhelming, but overall “it will be a good time.”

Students will be notified if they have been selected by an email from DUTicketLottery@du.edu. Emails will be sent through this evening.

“It makes it a lot more personal, just being able to see it in person,” said Rook. “It’s possibly the best chance we have to see candidates express themselves in person.”