The U.S. Senate race between Sen. Harris Wofford and former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh caused many students and permanent residents to go to the polls Tuesday.

A total of 32,689 students and Centre County residents voted, said Mary Corman, elections and records clerk. This was about 71 percent of the 46,176 people who registered, she added.

"People showed more enthusiasm this year," Corman said. "There's nothing very exciting in off years."

But in four precincts with heavy student populations, only 549 residents, or 43 percent, voted. A total of 1,280 residents were registered to vote in those areas.

"I'm not sure how many students actually voted, but I know registration was very much higher than last year," said Undergraduate Student Government Vice President Merryl Werber.

About 850 students registered to vote through a USG registration drive that began last spring, Werber said. Exact student registration figures from 1990 were not available, she said.

Student registration was higher because of the Senate race and because students ran for the State College Borough Council, Werber said, adding that the elections were also more publicized than last year.

"The Senate race and the students on the ballot together were very influential," she said.

It is difficult to get students to register because of general apathy, Werber said Students are uneducated about the issues, do not seem to care or do not understand the impact they can have on local government, she said.

"Students get absorbed in college life and tend to forget that there is a governmental world around them," she said.

Last November, 53,390 Centre County residents registered to vote but about 12,500 people were removed from registration records because they had not voted for two years, Corman said. Most of these were students who left the area after they graduated, she added.

After this purge, 30,391 people -- about 57 percent -- actually voted, Corman said.