Want fresh, unbiased, no-pundits-allowed live coverage of the 2016 election? You have new choices on Election Day: MTSU students, via the multiple on-air and online outlets of the university’s Center for Innovation in Media.

EMC major Ashlyn Bourque, standing at left, stage manager for the MT10News Vote2012 coverage, watches as Kelsey Lebechuck gives a live cue to panelists Ken Blake, associate professor of journalism and director of the MTSU Poll; psychology major Hailey Lawson, co-captain of the MTSU Debate Team; Dr. Patrick Richey, professor of communication studies and debate team adviser; and criminal justice major Stephen Duke in this November 2012 file photo. MTSU students will again provide live coverage of the 2016 presidential election from the Center for Innovation in Media. (MTSU file photo by Darby Campbell)

MTSU student journalists will be teaming up Tuesday night, Nov. 8, in the center, located in the Bragg Media and Entertainment Building, for more of their award-winning live coverage of national, state and local races.

The student TV station, MT10 News, will offer on-air updates on local cable channel 10 and online at www.mt10news.com/live. The student digital daily, Sidelines, will follow the news at http://mtsusidelines.com, and MTSU’s student radio station, WMTS 88.3 FM, will have its own live coverage and include the MT10 and Sidelines updates.

MTSU’s Election 2016 Watch Party gets underway at 7 p.m. outside the Center for Innovation in the Bragg building’s lobby.

The free campus event will last until 10 p.m. and is co-sponsored by the College of Media and Entertainment, Department of Political Science, Student Government Association, the nationally recognized MTSU Poll and the MTSU Student Programming & Raider Entertainment organization.

MTSU students and faculty will be able to enjoy free snacks while watching the election unfold on TV.

Beginning at 6 p.m., MT10 crews will report live from the Center for Innovation’s studios and from the field. WMTS will feature live interviews and commentary from its studio, and the Sidelines and MT10 websites also will feature interactive election maps that will be updated through the evening.

“The plan is for both outlets’ websites to feature similar maps for the presidential results statewide by county and across Rutherford County by precinct, and also a map for the U.S. House District Four race by county,” said Dr. Ken Blake, director of MTSU’s Office of Communication Research and the MTSU Poll and a professor in MTSU’s School of Journalism.

“We’ll also have a running, online tally of each presidential candidate’s electoral vote tallies and a sortable, interactive table showing which candidate won which state’s votes, all to be updated in real time as the results come in.”

Blake’s media students also have been preparing all semester for election coverage, including tracking social media responses to the 2016 presidential debates in real time.

The MTSU chapter of the American Democracy Project has been working at full steam to inform and encourage potential voters all year, helping students, faculty and staff to register and vote since before Tennessee’s “Super Tuesday” presidential primary last March.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)