"At Campus Polls, Energy and High Turnout"

Jessica Pindir stepped into the booth and pulled the lever, sealing herself off from the rest of the world with a grinding clank as a curtain closed behind her

One candidate for Congress. Check. One candidate for Senate. Check. One candidate for the President of the United States of America. Check.

Pindir pulled the lever back, stepped out of the booth, and that was it. Her vote was cast.

"It doesn't really feel like an election," said Pindir, a sophomore business management major.

On a gray drizzly Election Day Tuesday, 653 UB students like Pinder turned out to vote at the Student Union in the hotly contested presidential election between incumbent George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry.

For many months now the two candidates have traded barbs on both the issues and each other's personalities and leadership abilities, but on Tuesday the election finally came down to the voters themselves.

At UB, many students were quick to get on line to participate in what was the first presidential election for some.

Pindir said she had no sympathy for those who chose not to vote.

"It's their loss because they can't voice their opinion," she said.

Other voters voiced similar opinions about non-voting students, most of whom were eligible for the first time to vote for president yesterday.

"It depends, but this year I find it hard to empathize," said Matt Carland, a junior psychology major. "It seems like with so many issues, there should be at least one to care about."

Yet Carland said he felt there would be far fewer non-voters this Election Day 2004.

"I think overall there will be a significantly higher voter turnout across the country," Carland said.

Health and human service education major Meredith Mcassey said she thought a lot of individuals would chose not to vote in this particular election because of the close race.

"It's different because we really have a say, but you wonder if it will even count because of the Electoral College," she said.

Mcassey, on the other hand, said she felt the butterflies of first time voting.

"It was exciting," she said. "I think it's a close race, and although I don't really like either candidate, at least I finally got to vote."

Scott Solomon said he, too, thought there would be tremendous turnout, partly thanks to the coverage from the media.

"I think the press has got a lot of people thinking," Solomon said.

From Albany, Solomon was at the polls Tuesday to fill out an absentee ballot, which he said he didn't consider a hassle at all.

"I wanted to vote because I wanted my voice expressed," he said.

Yves Lebrun said he wanted to express his voice but was worried his vote wouldn't be counted properly because he had to fill out an affidavit ballot by hand. A sophomore business management major, Lebrun said he registered to vote on the last possible day, Oct. 8, but the volunteers in the Student Union didn't have his name.

Lebrun added he thought other votes like his would also be miscounted "because of what happened the last time."

Sharee Hereford, a sophomore, said this election is so important that she decided to go a step further in not only voting herself, but also trying to get as many others to vote as possible. Wearing a giant sign that read "No Vote, No Voice," Hereford said she had been getting thumbs up all day as she walked across campus.

"Now that our youth vote is coming out, we have to represent because we're the future," said Hereford, a sophomore business major.

For Robert Miller, a senior electrical engineering major, voting on Tuesday wasn't nearly as exciting because it was his second time doing so. He said say, however, that he felt the greater importance this year because of the war and other hot button issues.

"I'm more concerned with the results than with what's going on right now," said Miller, having just voted. "I don't really consider this over until we find out the results."

Because so many students were voting for the first time, volunteers had their hands full registering them to vote and guiding them in how to work the voting machines.

"In voting this year, I think 85 percent of the people need help," said Robert Hayman, an Election Day volunteer who has been helping at the polls for the last eight years.

According to one UB election coordinator, even on Election Day some students had misunderstandings about where and how they could vote.

"Some students still didn't realize they can vote locally and didn't register locally," said Brodka, assistant director of the Leadership Development Center.

Despite attempts to get the message out, many students still weren't reached, Brodka said, and over 150 students ended up filling out handwritten provisional or affidavit ballots.

"I'm just glad people are excited about voting," Brodka said.