Volunteers ushered last-minute voters into HUB Heritage Hall last night with one call of "Five minutes!" echoing through the area.
Danielle Morelli (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) ran into the voting area to be among the last students to vote.
"This is my first time voting, so I really wanted to do it," she said.
Throughout the day, Heritage Hall was met with the ebb and flow of voters as classes broke and the lunch hour fell upon students. Many voters braved a barrage of politicians and advocates handing out literature in the HUB on their way to vote in one of the most anticipated primaries of the season.
Tim Pawlowski (sophomore-secondary education and English) enthusiastically greeted voters just outside the doors and pointed them to their respective precincts. He said the thousands of new registrations would be meaningless if people didn't vote.
Pawlowski said a long line emerged in the middle of the afternoon.
Standing near the HUB stairs while directing students, Penn State quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said he was in the HUB supporting presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and getting young people to vote. He said there was some confusion with where some students should vote but most of them were just eager to get to their polling place.
"I just want to get as many people out here voting as possible," Paterno said.
Some students avoided the melee by turning out early on Election Day.
Kristen Campbell (freshman-history) said she arrived at the HUB at about 8 a.m. and that casting her votes was easy.
"I had, like, five people helping me," she said, adding she voted because "as silly as it is, every vote really does count."
Samuel Ladouceur (senior-finance and economics), who helped direct students at the HUB, said he volunteered yesterday because younger people will be affected by politicians' decisions, including tuition and gas prices.
"It's my duty to have their interests in mind -- the younger generation," Ladouceur said.
While many students voted without any issues, some problems did emerge.
Bernie Shockowitz, a volunteer minority inspector, said there were a few people who thought they were registered, but were not.
"But people were able to file provisional ballots," he said.
He said some voters said they registered with different groups and it didn't work out, but he wasn't sure what happened.
Morelli said she was one of these students. She said she had registered at a table with a group of students but was not on the list today. She said she had to complete a provisional ballot and would need to call the Centre County Election Board to see why she wasn't listed.
Georgia Etter, a volunteer "rover," said she was there to help if any malfunctions were to occur with the machines. She said in the morning that everything was running well, "but with all man-made things, something might go wrong."
Lori Shapiro (graduate-entomology) said she asked to fill out a paper ballot, but officials told her she had to use a machine.
"There's just nothing they can do if it crashes," Shapiro said.
