一月十四日，臺灣選民投下選票。這是臺灣史無前例，第一次合併辦理總統與立委選舉。國民黨候選人馬英九總統獲得連任，得票率51.6%，主要對手民進黨候選人蔡英文得票率45.6%。親民黨候選人宋楚瑜得票率3%以下。
在選舉日之前，兩個專家來ICLP發表他們對臺灣選舉的觀察，並且與現場學生討論。國立臺灣大學政治學系系主任王業立教授演講的主題是「選舉制度與政黨競爭」；美國Davidson College政治學系系主任任雪麗(Shelley Rigger)教授演講的主題是「臺灣總統和立委選舉：到底是怎麼一回事？」談到美國與中國對這次臺灣選舉有什麼看法。本期另有兩篇文章節錄他們演講的內容。
一月12日，國際華語研習所安排老師帶領學生去迪化街逛年貨大街時，很巧也遇到馬總統在那裡從事競選活動，學生們因此有機會跟馬總統講幾句話。歐陽思同學表示：「我們本來不知道馬英九也要來迪化街。歐道定告訴我們他快要來了，所以我們幾個同學都等他來。他到的時候很多人一直在後面推，所以我原來只看到他的頭髮。後來他看見我的時候看起來很興奮。他問我"Where are you from﹖"我說『波士頓。』因為他大概本來認為我不會說漢語，所以他又問"Where﹖"我又說了一次『波士頓，美國。』他告訴我"Oh Boston. I went to Harvard Law School. I was also a Bostonian."」。
此外，值得一提的是臺灣綠黨這次全國政黨得票的表現。ICLP校友文魯彬(Robin Winkler)也是臺灣綠黨的中執委2011召集人，他們在今年的大選，全國政黨選票增加了，總得票率達1.7％，是2008年綠黨得票率的四倍左右；但還是沒有突破5%的門檻。
Taiwan's voters make their choice, experts share their perspectives with ICLP students.
Taiwan's voters went to the polls last Saturday, January 14 to vote in their first ever combined presidential and legislative election, and reelected President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Kuomintang. He received 51.6% of the vote, while his main opponent, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party received 45.6%. James Soong (宋楚瑜) of the People First Party received less than 3% of the vote.
Prior to the election, two experts came to ICLP to share their thoughts on the then upcoming election with ICLP students, and answer student questions. Professor Wang Yeh-lih (王業立), Chair of the NTU Political Science Department, discussed Taiwan's electoral system and the competition between its political parties, while Professor Shelley Rigger (任雪麗), the Brown Professor of East Asian Politics and Chair of Political Science at Davidson College in North Carolina, discussed American and mainland Chinese perspectives on the election. Their talks are covered in-depth in separate articles.
ICLP students visiting Dihua Street on Thursday, January 12 saw President Ma while he was out campaigning. ICLP student Myles Postell-Reynolds (歐陽思) spoke with President Ma, who asked him, "Where are you from?" Postell-Reynolds replied, in Chinese, "Boston." Postell-Reynolds reports that President Ma responded, "Oh Boston. I went to Harvard Law School. I was also a Bostonian."
In addition, the Green Party Taiwan, in which ICLP alumnus Robin Winkler (文魯彬) is a major figure, increased its vote total in the vote for political parties, which determines at-large representation in the Legislative Yuan. The party received 1.7% of the vote, a nearly fourfold increase over its 2008 total. However, the party fell short of the 5% threshold required for representation.
