# Tickets for the US Presidential Inauguration? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303 "2008-11-18T16:50:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/1 "2008-11-18T16:50:40Z")
To my understanding, tickets for the swearing-in ceremony of the Inauguration can be requested from local members of the House of Representatives. Is this the only way anyone can get in to watch the swearing in of the next President? I have the feeling that a lot of people are going to want to crowd in on the mall, and apparently preparations are already being made for cramming three million ( :eek: ) people out there. Are the tickets, then, just for people who get to cram closer up? Or who get chairs? šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/2 "2008-11-18T17:12:28Z")
A lot of the ā€œfreeā€ tickets are getting scalped, so I guess you could call that another way of getting a ticket. Some legislators, such as Feinstein, are being publicly indignant about the ticket scalping, and some online venues have halted sales of them. EBay has, for instance. Feinstein is attempting to pass a bill making scalping the inauguration tickets a misdemeanor. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/3 "2008-11-18T17:13:20Z")
Not an answer to your question, but I read the suggestion somewhere that those seeking tickets ask a Republican member of the House (such as one from Oklahoma, say), since the same number of tickets are given to each Representative, and those in Democratic districts are going to have more demand among their constituents. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/4 "2008-11-18T17:28:46Z")
\*"[Every](http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/56026.html) House member receives 198 inaugural tickets, to distribute however the lawmaker sees fit. The allocation includes 177 tickets for standing and 19 tickets for sitting. Two tickets are assigned to the lawmaker and significant other. Every senator receives about 350 tickets. All told, about 240,000 tickets will be available."\* Demand, as youā€™d expect, exceeds supply by orders of magnitude. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/5 "2008-11-18T17:51:47Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > A lot of the ā€œfreeā€ tickets are getting scalped, so I guess you could call that another way of getting a ticket. Some legislators, such as Feinstein, are being publicly indignant about the ticket scalping, and some online venues have halted sales of them. EBay has, for instance. Feinstein is attempting to pass a bill making scalping the inauguration tickets a misdemeanor. Thatā€™s because no tickets have been released yet. Congressional offices will not release the tickets until 1 week before the inauguration according to my Senator. I beleive that fraud by deceit is already a felony, donā€™t see a need for a new misdemeanor law. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/6 "2008-11-18T17:56:36Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > \*"[Every](http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/56026.html) House member receives 198 inaugural tickets, to distribute however the lawmaker sees fit. The allocation includes 177 tickets for standing and 19 tickets for sitting. Two tickets are assigned to the lawmaker and significant other. > > Every senator receives about 350 tickets. All told, about 240,000 tickets will be available."\* > > Demand, as youā€™d expect, exceeds supply by orders of magnitude. Jesus, thatā€™s crazy. I think Iā€™m going to buy stock in a riot gear companyā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/7 "2008-11-18T17:57:00Z")
This may be one of the few times itā€™s handy to live in Texas, then. šŸ™‚ But are we meant to be requesting reserved tickets? Iā€™m not a huge donor, being poor, so Iā€™m not likely to be at the top of anyoneā€™s list. However, Iā€™m in one of the blue areas of Texas, so our local Congresscritter is probably going to have lots of people asking. Apparently the Congressmen in general are getting lots and lots of requests, so I guess I could whip off a letter. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/8 "2008-11-18T18:09:09Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Thatā€™s because no tickets have been released yet. Congressional offices will not release the tickets until 1 week before the inauguration according to my Senator. I beleive that fraud by deceit is already a felony, donā€™t see a need for a new misdemeanor law. Well, I donā€™t see it as fraud if you have, in fact, reserved a ticket, and are simply promising to hand your ticket over to somebody else when you get it in return for compensation. I would assume thatā€™s what is going on. NPR had a thing on this yesterday, specifically mentioning this site, which is facilitating the scalping: > **[Presidential Inauguration Party Tickets](https://www.greatseats.com/performer/presidential-inauguration-party-tickets)** > > Buy best available Presidential Inauguration Party tickets for low prices at GreatSeats.com. Learn more about Presidential Inauguration Party, current event dates, ticket prices, and venue details. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/9 "2008-11-18T18:12:02Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Well, I donā€™t see it as fraud if you have, in fact, reserved a ticket, and are simply promising to hand your ticket over to somebody else when you get it in return for compensation. > [Presidential Inauguration Party Tickets](http://www.greatseats.com/inauguration/inauguration_tickets.htm) Nobody has been reserved a ticket yet. You will not even know if you got one until a week before the inauguration. To claim that you have one of the congressional tickets reserved is fraud. But what people might do is represent tickets for other inaugural events (such as balls and receptions) as bonifde congressional tickets. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/10 "2008-11-18T22:43:31Z")
I have my name on my local Representativeā€™s list, and Senator Feingoldā€™s list. Senator Kohl is no longer taking names to add to his list. Both Feingold and my Representativeā€™s office both told me that they neither know how many tickets they are going to get, nor how they plan on deciding who is going to get tickets. Iā€™ve heard rumors of lottery style distribution, but according to who I talked to today, they just havenā€™t yet decided. ---
**Author:** ![Blueapple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blueapple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blueapple)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/11 "2008-11-19T04:55:30Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Not an answer to your question, but I read the suggestion somewhere that those seeking tickets ask a Republican member of the House (such as one from Oklahoma, say), since the same number of tickets are given to each Representative, and those in Democratic districts are going to have more demand among their constituents. I believe that the Members of Congress will distribute to those only in their district, which makes sense. And with an average of 600,000 people in each Congressional district, I am sure a few hundred people would be interested in tickets, even in ruby red country. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/12 "2008-11-19T15:17:27Z")
And hereā€™s the message on my local Congressmanā€™s site > [@](#): > > Thank you for your interest in the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Ceremony. > > Sadly, due to a large number of requests, we are unable to accommodate additional requests for Inauguration tickets. > > However, there are several official inaugural events that are free and open to the public: > Inaugural Parade ā€“ Traveling from the Capitol building to the White House along Pennsylvania Avenue, the presidential parade route is open to the public; no tickets or reservations are necessary. > > Inaugural Ceremony on the Mall ā€“ the National Mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument will be outfitted with giant projection screens so that the public may watch the inauguration live; no tickets or reservations are necessary. > > For more information on Inaugural activities, please see the official Presidential Inaugural web site at [http://inaugural.senate.gov/](http://inaugural.senate.gov/) ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/13 "2008-11-19T19:43:39Z")
Willie Brown (former Mayor of SF) suggested the same as Dewey Finn- ask a member from OK, in a column the other day. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/14 "2008-11-19T19:51:28Z")
Actually, I think I read that suggestion in Willie Brownā€™s column. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tickets-for-the-us-presidential-inauguration/473303/15 "2008-11-19T20:59:02Z")
As \*\*kunilou \*\*posts, you need tix to get in close to see the swearing-in, but you donā€™t need tickets to watch the inagural parade or to congregate on the Mall. Last time they had big screens up; Iā€™m sure theyā€™ll do the same this year. ā€“Cliffy