Kirby Sports Center’s first presidential election as a polling location had its hiccups, but that did not detract from high student voter turnout.
“It definitely exceeded expectations,” Chelsea Morrese, the director of the Landis Center for Civic Engagement, said of the day.
The polling location, instated in 2021, received 1,514 votes on Election Day, according to Morrese.
High turnout, however, resulted in hours-long lines for students, garnering national attention and the addition of two more polling booths in the afternoon.
“Honestly, we weren’t prepared for that,” Morrese said. “We didn’t anticipate it. I think we responded really well to it, though, and the support from the president’s office is what made that possible.”
College President Nicole Hurd waited in line for three and a half hours with students to vote.
“My first impression was, ‘That line is really long, what a great thing,’” she said. “Then my second impression was, ‘That line’s really long, and I’ve got to make sure people stay in it all day.’”
A campus-wide email from college administration addressing the wait time and encouraging students to stay in line to vote was sent out at 1:20 p.m.
Waiting students were treated to water, pizza, donuts, cookies and an ice cream truck by college administrators, faculty and staff. Many in line arrived prepared for the wait, armed with foldable chairs, laptops, card games and speakers to pass the time.
Lucy Parry ‘26 was an outside poll worker at the location from 6:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
People were “annoyed” with the wait time, she said, “but I genuinely don’t think I ever talked to anyone considering getting out of the line.”
Hurd said when she was informed that there were only two polling machines, “that was incredibly frustrating,” and that she started making phone calls to District 7 Rep. Susan Wild’s office for more.
“It was an advocacy role, and it was done out of love for this community,” Hurd said of her position as college president.
Morrese said that the third polling machine was installed at 12:30 p.m., about an hour after the request was issued, with the fourth arriving 30 minutes after that.
Voting machine numbers at polling stations are determined by the number of registered voters, but a district may petition for more if a need is demonstrated, according to the Pennsylvania Election Code.
Additionally, many students had to fill out provisional ballots, despite having registered to vote.
Morrese pointed to two situations that contributed to higher numbers of these ballots: last-minute registrations awaiting processing and database glitches.
“To anybody who was registered and showed up in the database and filled out a provisional ballot, their vote will be counted,” she said. “They assured me of that last night.”
According to Morrese, the final person cast their vote at 8:24 p.m.
“What motivates me is a deep love for this community and a deep love for our students being able to use their voices,” Hurd said, also shouting out Lafayette Votes.
“I think we couldn’t have done any better,” Morrese said.
