By Audrey Donow

After this election, Colorado State Students are experiencing a whirlwind of emotion, whether left distraught or satisfied with the results. The presidential election was important for many new and returning voters as so many promises and consequences were left on the table for voters to evaluate.

For CSU student Raigyn Moran, the results of this election took her by surprise and ended with a result that made her fearful for the next four years.

“I think my biggest concerns were women’s rights like reproductive health…and also environmental concerns,” Moran said.

This was Moran’s first time voting in the presidential election. She exercised her freedom to vote for a candidate that aligned with the policies she was most concerned about such as reproductive health and climate change.

Specifically in Colorado, these policy concerns included Amendment 79 which adds the right to have an abortion to the Colorado constitution and prevents state or local governments from restricting access to it.

After the results were announced of the next president of the United States of America, Moran felt a sense of dread due to the loss of her preferred candidate and a potential future lack of protection over reproductive health and environmental issues.

Another policy on the ballot in Colorado that was important to Moran was Amendment J which removes the ban on same-sex marriage from the Colorado constitution. This marriage ban was put into place in 2006 stating that only a union of man and woman would be valid and recognized as a marriage in the state. After the Supreme Court ruling in 2015 in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, the justices extended the right of same-sex couples to be married but in Colorado, the language banning the union would still be in the books unless voters chose to remove it.

 “It’s been a little better seeing people be uplifting but it’s still very concerning and hopeless,” she said.

Moran expressed that after the results, in relation to reproductive health, she is concerned nationwide. Even with her feeling of doom that came along with the results of the election, she celebrates the wins Colorado experienced removing the ban on same-sex marriage from the constitution by passing Amendment J as well as implementing protections for abortion in the Colorado state constitution by passing Amendment 79.

Photo Credit: Tim Hurst, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons