Today's deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania spurred a flurry of campaign activity this weekend as John McCain's and Barack Obama's State College offices canvassed and registered voters locally.
As of Tuesday, there were 96,011 registered voters in Centre County with 42,679 Democrats and 38,253 Republicans, according to the county's elections and voter registration Web site. New numbers are expected to come out Tuesday.
Yard signs and a life-size cutout of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin crowded in and near the entrance to McCain's State College "Victory Center" as a few volunteers prepared to canvass Saturday afternoon.
Samuel Settle (freshman-political science) was in the McCain office preparing to canvass. He was outfitted with a baseball cap advertising McCain, a shirt supporting Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, and about half a dozen campaign buttons.
Settle said he wears McCain gear to endorse the candidate and to break the false consensus that all students support Obama.
"We're outnumbered on campus," he said.
Alex Smith, College Republicans chairman, said the College Republican National Committee wanted to have a "Super Saturday," a push for students to increase their efforts on Saturday.
Settle said on Saturday that he planned to canvass, walk the local precinct and knock on doors. His said his efforts would be to "rally the base" and sway undecided voters.
Chris McMonagle (senior-political science) said he had heard canvassing is more effective with local candidates, but it's generally the only face-to-face contact for national candidates.
"So I think face time is very important," said McMonagle, a volunteer for the McCain campaign, adding every bit of volunteerism helps.
Efforts to register voters continued well into the night this weekend.
Volunteers from Obama's State College headquarters, Andrew Droste, a sophomore at Niagra University, and Evan Walker-Wells, a senior at a high school in New York, were out working to register voters near the intersection of Pollock Road and Burrowes Street at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
Droste said it is important to register voters because the deadline is today. He said he had been to the area before and Pennsylvania is an important swing state for Obama.
"A different crowd is out now than is out 1 o'clock, say, walking between classes," Walker-Wells said as he stood on campus early Sunday morning.
He said going to parties at apartments to register people is awkward at first, but people get friendly.
"I have not met a person inebriated enough to insult me," Droste said.
Sean Meloy, president of the College Democrats, said last weekend into today is the final push. Anyone with the Obama campaign or the PSUVote.org Coalition is trying to register people to vote, he said.
Meloy said they've been going outside of clubs, bars, movie theaters and wherever lots of people are.
Walker-Wells said because Pennsylvania is a state with a deadline, it doesn't matter if Obama excites people if they cannot vote.
"I'm willing to lose God knows how many hours of sleep for it," Walker-Wells said.
