Students can soon find out whether provisional ballots they cast in Tuesday's election were counted as today marks the last day officials can validate the ballots.

Joyce McKinley, Centre County Board of Election Office director, said the total number of provisional ballots for Centre County was 750.

She could not say how many of those were from the four precincts at the HUB-Robeson Center. Once it is confirmed the voters who used provisional ballots are registered for Centre County, the information will be listed at www.votespa.com.

Individuals who voted by provisional ballots can call 1-877-VOTES-PA or visit the Web site and provide the information on the ballot identification receipt to find out if their vote was counted.

There were some problems in some counties in Pennsylvania, Larry Frankel, legislative director for American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said.

"The biggest problem we heard of was that in some places they ran out of [provisional ballots], and people were turned down," he said.

Allegheny County faced the greatest problem. Montgomery and Chester counties also faced a similar situation, Frankel said.

Brian McDonald, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, said Allegheny County was forced to photocopy provisional ballots to accommodate voters.

"The idea behind the provisional ballot is to protect the voter," Frankel said. "We believe in the counting of provisional and absentee ballots, not only to indicate the accurate count but to indicate if a problem precipitated the procedure."

McDonald said the provisional ballots served their purpose, which was to allow voters who registered but did not appear on the county registry to cast a vote.

"You can't disenfranchise a voter because of an error on the county's fault," he said.

The provisional ballot process was introduced by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) 2002, ensuring registered voters are not denied the right to vote under certain circumstances.

According to HAVA, a voter is eligible to vote by provisional ballot if the officials cannot find a voter's name on the general registry and cannot determine the voter's identity.

"Even if [Sen. John] Kerry conceded, we still believe that all provisional and absentee ballots should count," Frankel said. "The people who voted should have their vote counted."