PSU students stormed the polls in large numbers on Tues. Nov. 4. Shuttle Services were offered to bring students to the poll.
Voting took place at the Plymouth Elementary School. Over a dozen volunteers worked to register first time voters at the polling station.
“At least one and a half times the amount of volunteers are here this year,” Plymouth Town Moderator Quentin Blaine said. Four years ago, there were about six volunteers working to register last minute voters. This year, nineteen volunteers were on site.
At times the line stretched out the gymnasium and into the hall, but that did not worry the poll workers, “As long as the lines keep ebbing and flowing,” Blaine said.
The town of Plymouth planned for several weeks regarding the easiest way to register student voters, “It was really a team effort,” Blaine said. Blaine estimated that the average wait time in the registration line was seven minutes.
As of three o’clock, over 1000 people had registered as voters in the town of Plymouth. Four years ago, between 1200 and 1300 new voters registered.
Along with the voters, Republican and Democrat observers were at the polls, where they would observe votes for Senators McCain and Obama, and then report the figures to a database.
PSU students also helped at the polls. Ashley Moore, a PSU junior, helped with voter registration, “I was asked by Blaine to work at the polls,” Moore said. Moore was registering people at an average of ten per hour. “I know I’ve registered at least thirty or forty people,” Moore said.
The PSU Student Senate were also present at the polls, “We are volunteering,” Ben Dearth, Senior Class Representative said, “The PSU panther is available for pictures,” Dearth added.
PSU students who voted in the election were given the option of having his or her picture taken with the caption, “I voted.” These photos were displayed in the HUB Fireplace Lounge. The pictures were continuously updated through out the day.
The Plymouth polling stations closed at 7 p.m., while polls across N.H. closed at 8 p.m. A mere four hours after the first polling stations were closed, Illinois Senator Barack Obama was elected the forty-fourth President of the U.S. Obama’s victory can be related back to the large amount of young, first time voters support for the candidate. According to this week’s myPlymouth poll, the majority of students supported Obama for President, with 1603 online votes for Obama, compared to 541 votes for John McCain.