Whether they’re eligible to vote or not, students who are following the impending US presidential election are invited to engage in the conversation at an upcoming panel event.

Queen’s Politicus Journal is hosting an American Elections Open Panel on Oct. 5. Four panelists, including Queen’s professors Paul Gardner, Jacob Robbins-Kanter, and Christopher Abbott will discuss topics like representation, foreign policy outcome, democracy, and voter equality. 

The fourth panelist hadn’t confirmed their participation at the time of publication.

Politicus is an academic journal on campus with an additional educational component, aiming to provide accessible information to students and the broader community.

“This is a really great opportunity to hear from some experts in the community about a really big part of history that we’re gonna be talking about for a long time,” Rhianna Hamilton, co-editor in chief of Politicus, told The Journal.

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The event will be streamed online through Facebook Live. A moderator will lead the discussion, but students can submit their own questions either during the event or beforehand by messaging the Politicus Journal Facebook page.

“Especially with all this stuff going on with COVID-19, it’s really easy to forget that there’s other really important and impactful events going on in the world, and this American election is certainly one of them,” Hamilton said. 

Hamilton organized the event, along with fellow Co-Editor in Chief Claire Chilton and the Politicus marketing team.

She said the event was partly inspired by recent discourse surrounding issues like voter disenfranchisement and the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“We decided this would be a really good event for the Queen’s community to engage in and have a chance to understand how this could impact the United States but also how this could impact Canada,” Hamilton said.

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She noted the outcome of the American election will affect Canada in terms of foreign policy, trade, and cultural norms and ideals. 

“I think it’s really important for students to have a sense of what’s going on around the world, and we really want to make that as accessible, easy, and hopefully enjoyable as possible,” Hamilton said.

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