Nice job. I’d start with a straightforward lead. Be careful to keep your opinion out of your news stories. You did a lot of good, contextual reporting.

“And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” Donald J Trump said in a hot mic recording, “Grab’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Thus began “pussygate”. “pussygate.” = AP Style (punctuation goes inside quotation marks).

On Oct. 7 When the Washington Post posted an Access Hollywood clip from 2005 on its website on Oct. 7, the  and the world was treated to an audio recording of presidential nominee Donald J Trump Donald J. Trump discussing his sexual proclivities, including profane evidence of assault.

For months the media, politicians, and portions of the electorate watched in shock as a real estate developer/reality TV star went from international joke to viable candidate. This new revelation fit in nicely with the litany of nonsense spewed under the “Make America Great Again” banner. This is editorializing. Keep your opinions to yourself when you report and write news.

Many believed this was it. The proverbial nail in the coffin of a campaign run on far right conservative platforms and xenophobic rhetoric. Sound bites from the Republican nominee alienating 50%  50 percent = AP Style of the electorate a month before the election seemed almost poetic. Especially since his opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton is the first female nominee from a major party to run for president.

Last Tuesday early voting on St. Edward’s University campus in Austin, Texas was underway. Stephanie Darby, a 23-year-old student at the university, proudly cast her vote.

“I think it was a really momentous occasion for me just now to be able to cast my vote for a woman. And as a woman it just felt so liberating to know the glass ceiling is a little bit lower. That maybe one day there will be even more women in politics. This is just such a monumental occasion,” Darby said.

The road looked clear for Clinton until Friday, Oct. 28 when FBI director James Comey announced he was reviewing new evidence connected to the former Secretary of State’s e-mail scandal. While this was welcome news for Republicans it was unclear how exactly it would affect voters.

Sabri Zooper a junior at St. Edward’s University and first time voter was unaffected by the revelation.

“I have my own feelings about that and they are that that’s a bunch a crap. I feel like that because she’s a woman and because she is Hilary how does she spell her first name? Clinton and she’s not like some nurturing lady, she’s strong, she’s a leader, they’re going to look for something to poke at her because trump obviously has had so many scandals. They need something for Hillary because right now she’s looking like the freaking Pope compared to him,” Zooper said.

Zooper isn’t alone. Unsurprisingly, many female voters feel that gender is playing a larger role in this election than it has in the past.

Ann Marie Walker walker, a graduate student at St. Edward’s University, typically sites environmental concerns, such as climate change, as the most important issue. for her when choosing a candidate. This year, however, her priorities are different.

“I don’t really believe in identity politics. That being said with this election I don’t really know how you don’t let identity politics come into play and how you are a woman and vote for anyone other than Hillary Clinton,” Walker said.

Early voting data from Florida, a major swing state, indicated that 3.52 million women cast their ballot early compared to 2.76 million men. Democrats accounted for 44.1% of the early woman vote while Republicans accounted for 42.2% of the early male vote. percent = write the word out (don’t use the symbol) = AP Style.

Trump is doing well with white men. Jason Lotz a 34-year-old employee at St. Edward’s University can see the appeal.

“It’s funny because as an informed voter I knew that I should vote for Hillary,” Lotz said,  should be Lotz said. = AP Style “I can totally see why people would vote for Trump, because there’s that little part of you that’s like, ‘Hell yeah let’s make it [sic].’  It’s easy to rile people up and it’s like, yeah he’s right about some of these things, even though I know he is lying completely about so many things. He does that thing where he just tells all these lies but there’s a little bit of truth in there. There’s just enough that you can grab onto and be like, Yeah, I want something different, even though he’s not the person to bring something different.” Quote is long and garbled at points. I wouldn’t use the whole thing. 

The desire for something different is a popular theme this election. After a very unconventional primary many voters found themselves underwhelmed with the two major party candidates.

“Unfortunately a lot of this election did feel like it was voting for the lesser of two evils,” said Darby who supported Bernie Sanders in the primary.

Heading into election day Clinton is leading in almost all of the polls. But she needs more than just women. According to statistics on CNN.com early voting by black democrats in North Carolina is down compared to 2012. This could feasible tip the scales for Trump. For some the idea is perplexing.

“I don’t know how you can be a minority or have a vagina and vote for Donald Trump,” Walker said.