Students planning for the next big political event, the 56th presidential inaugural ceremony on Jan. 20, 2009, have discovered that tickets are difficult to find.
Members of the public who want to attend the inaugural ceremonies should contact their congressmen or senators to inquire about tickets, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies Web site.
Tickets to the inauguration are free, but the committee does not directly distribute tickets to the public. Tickets will not be distributed to congressional offices until the week before the inauguration, according to the JCCIC Web site.
Members of Congress, former lawmakers, Supreme Court justices, Medal of Honor winners, President-elect Barack Obama, Vice President-elect Joe Biden and their families receive tickets. The remaining tickets are distributed to lawmakers' Capitol Hill offices, according to the Associated Press.
Lillian Ward, a freshman in the School of International Service, said she plans to e-mail her congressman this week to request tickets. She said she wants to attend because this election was especially significant for her.
"This entire election has been special to me since it was the first time I could vote, and I have been excited about Obama for so long," she said.
Within days of the election, congressional offices received an enormous number of ticket requests, according to The Washington Post.
Shannon Curry, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and a Congressional intern for Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said she has seen an influx of ticket inquiries.
"We've gotten about 700 requests already between our district office and our office in D.C.," she said.
Constituents call and leave their name, phone number and number of tickets requested, which are then added to a list, Curry said.
Due to the amount of interest, the office is developing a way to make the process fair, she said.
"We are probably going to do some sort of lottery. We do not get the tickets until the week before inauguration, so it is possible we may be able to get more," Curry said.
Similarly, the office of Del. Eleanor Homes Norton, D-D.C., told the Post that due to the number of calls they have already received, they have stopped taking requests.
Such popularity has led some offices to change their policies. For example, Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a Nov. 5 press release that the volume of requests has prompted her office to only contact those who will be given tickets, and will only then disclose ticket pick-up and viewing locations.
AU students should be wary of purchasing tickets online. On its Web site, the JCCIC said no Web site has actual tickets for sale at present, as tickets have yet to be distributed and in-person ticket pick-up will be mandatory.
Most people who will attend the inauguration will have to stand through the ceremony as there are 240,000 tickets available for the ceremony at the Capitol, but only 30,000 of the tickets are for allotted seats, according to the AP.
Despite the limited number of tickets, some AU students said they are going to try to attend the inauguration.
Ward said she will still attempt to attend the inauguration.
"I wanted to come to college in D.C. to have the opportunity to experience historic events like this, so as long as I am there, with a ticket or not, I will still be really excited," she said.
Curry also said she will take a chance to attend the ceremony.
"I will be attending the inauguration, but not in a ticketed seat-just out front behind the barriers like everyone else," she said.
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