Is This the End of the Election Night Watch Party?
Americans have gathered during significant political moments since the mid-1800s. But with so much at stake this year, many will remain anxious and alone at home.
For Election Night in 2016, Dwight Onley and his wife set up a life-size cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton in their living room and bought a cake with chocolate ganache, strawberries, and “Madame President” written on it in frosting with curlicues. After Clinton lost, the cake remained. They were inclined against waste, and so they finished it, eating “in a rote, joyless manner,” Onley, a retired high-school English teacher in College Park, Maryland, told me. This year, he’s still hopeful, but his wife has vowed to go to bed by 9 p.m. tonight and has forbidden him from waking her up to share any news. He hopes that his
