Students vote in record numbers

Penn students turned out in record numbers to vote in the Pennsylvania primary yesterday, in order to cast ballots in the pivotal contest between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Altogether, about 2,500 students, more than one-fifth of Penn's student body, voted in this year's election - a significant jump from the 2006 midterm elections, when about 1,500 students voted in the general election.

General elections typically draw higher turnouts than closed-party primaries.

At times the lines stretched from the Reading Room in Houston Hall, where voting machines were set up, all the way out to the Information Desk in the main entryway.

"It's fun. I really like it. It's exciting, especially since it's my first time voting," Alison Rapaport, a Wharton freshman and Obama volunteer, said as she stood in line to vote.

Wendy Lue, a Wharton sophomore a few steps in front of Rapaport in line, noted that the high turnout was "great, because a lot of time people think that young people are politically apathetic."

All over campus, volunteers staffing the polls noted that the turnout, anticipated to be high, surpassed expectations.

Three hours before the polls closed, College sophomore Jeff Karsh, a majority inspector of elections at the David Rittenhouse Laboratories, said he had already seen 260 voters and expected at least 150 more before 8 p.m. - up from the fewer than 100 voters that came to the polling station at the last election.

The voters are "excited and upbeat about being involved in such an historic election," he said. "You can see it in their eyes."

One first-time voter, Engineering sophomore Rajeev Saxena, agreed.

"It's such a pivotal time . It's probably the most important day [for] the Democratic party," Saxena, who voted in Harnwell College House, said.

College and Wharton junior Stephanie Simon, head of Penn Leads the Vote, said she was pleased to see the competitive race resulted in a high level of student involvement on campus.

"It's really great to see student involvement on all levels around campus," she said. "People are talking, and that's great for Penn and great for democracy."

Although more students than ever turned out at Penn yesterday, few students voted in the Republican primary. By the end of the night, fewer than 100 of the 2,500 ballots cast were on the Republican ticket.

Statewide turnout was about 40 to 50 percent - double the turnout in the 2004 primary - according to the Associated Press.

Penn President Amy Gutmann, who voted in Steinberg-Deitrich Hall yesterday, said she was proud of the way Penn students had become involved and represented the University over the past several weeks of intense campaigning in the state.

"It says that our Penn students really have taken to heart their responsibility to get engaged, and they care about the selections," she said.

"We [will] have true evidence when we see the numbers of people in our ward that voted, that 18-24 year olds are really engaged politically, and Penn is leading that," she added.

Despite the increased traffic at the polls yesterday, no problems with voting machines were reported. Some students, however, said they were registered but were not in the book, so they filled out provisional ballots.

Overall, though, "things went really well," said ward committee member and College junior Andrew Reich. He said he was "happy to see a good amount of people."

Staff writers Rachel Baye, Jessica Bell, Mara Wishingrad and Daniel Zinshteyn contributed reporting to this article.

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