Students logged on in overwhelming numbers yesterday to vote in student government elections, pushing turnout to its highest level since 1993.

More than 80 percent of the 5,674 voters cast their ballots online for positions in the Undergraduate Student Government, University Park Allocation Committee and Association of Residence Hall Students.

"All day long, we got really positive responses," said Jessica Corrado, voting and tallying commissioner for student elections. This was the first year students could elect representatives via the Web.

The total number of voters indicates a 45 percent increase over last year's turnout of 3,905, when organizers said cold and rainy conditions kept voters away from the polls.

Yesterday's weather was sunny and mild most of the day, with a high in the mid-40s.

About one in six undergraduates at University Park voted, but only 912 decided to fill out a paper ballot at one of the 13 polling sites around campus.

Corrado said poll volunteers informed passersby that they could vote online if they didn't have time to stop at the tables.

"I do think we'll go to all online voting eventually," she said.

Buck Thompson, online voting and tallying commissioner, said it will be a gradual transition, due to the "comfort level" many people have with a more tangible way of voting.

"You've got to phase the system out," he said, adding that the election Web site — www.psuvote.com — is still a work-in-progress.

The voting server, run by University Testing Services, went offline about four times during the day, said David Britz, head commissioner.

"Sometimes we wouldn't even know it was down until people called us," Britz said.

Rhyan Romaine, candidacy and campaigning commissioner, estimated that the server was down for a total of about 10 minutes.