Washington University students waited for up to three hours Tuesday to cast their ballots—many for the first time— and in contrast to past years, encountered few problems along the way.

While students voting in the Wohl Center stood in line for one hour to vote, voters at local churches and other locations often faced waits hours longer in the sun.

Freshman John Moynihan, a South 40 resident who went to the polls for the first time, expressed his sense of excitement in being able to vote.

“I actually did take a second to sit down and say, ‘Okay, I’m actually filling out ballot for the President of the United States’. I was glad to participate, finally,” Moyihan said.

Moynihan decided to vote in Missouri, primarily on account of what is happening in the state.

“I’m going to be living here for the next four years, so I looked more toward local issues, but [Missouri being] a swing state had something to do with it too,” he said.

Although many University students, who largely supported Sen. Barack Obama, voted as Missouri residents, others decided to vote in their home states.

Freshman Tyler Jackson, a Maryland resident, also voted as a Missouri resident in the Wohl Center. Like Moynihan, Jackson stated he voted in Missouri because he felt doing so would have more impact, as Missouri is a swing state.

Jackson did not express any dissatisfaction with the voting process.

“It was pretty easy, I didn’t have to wait long at all. I expected [waiting], but I can say I’m pleased,” Jackson said.

Although Friedman Lounge hosted only three electronic-voting machines, voting officials also made paper ballots available to student voters.

Junior Paul Cheh from Washington, D.C. said that although the voting process at Wohl generally ran smoothly, he and other student voters had to stand in line for well over an hour to cast their votes. Cheh observed about 200 people in line during the morning, even as early as 8 a.m.

“A lot of other people had the same idea to go pretty early,” he said. “It was about an hour and 15 minutes’ wait, and once you got into the polls it was pretty quick and painless.”

However, Cheh noted that voting officials may have been able to streamline the process.

“Some of the lines were a little confusing,” he said.

While students like Cheh voted as Missouri residents, others, such as junior and Maryland native Michelle Bernard, submitted absentee ballots for their home states.

Bernard, however, remained politically active on Election Day, volunteering for Democratic candidate for Missouri lieutenant governor Sam Page, who lost the race to Republican incumbent Peter Kinder.

“I didn’t really get the experience of going into the polling place, but it was fun and exciting. I think this entire election is one to remember for a lifetime,” Bernard said.

College Republican Josh Simpson, a Maryville, Missouri resident who voted absentee before Election Day, also volunteered. Simpson handed out literature for Kinder.

“It was crazy—college kids getting up at 6 a.m. to vote. And the rest of the day went pretty smoothly,” Simpson observed. “I think their voice [students’] is definitely going to be heard in this election, especially with our state in Missouri.”

While Bernard and Simpson volunteered for state candidates, Green Action member Peter Murrey, a sophomore, attempted to raise support for Propositions M and C. Proposition M, which proposed to raise funds for MetroLink, failed to pass; Proposition C, which proposed to support renewable energy sources, was approved.

Murrey, who voted at the Wohl Center, waited for one hour but found the process convenient, and was able to buy food from Bear’s Den.

“The line was very long, but it was worth it,” Murrey said. “We are going to get our voice heard, and politicians: You better be ready for it.”

In the evening, as ballots across the nation were being counted, students gathered in the Tisch Commons of the Danforth University Center to watch the results of the presidential election.

“Watching it in the DUC has been great,” said Student Union (SU) Vice President for Administration Jeff Nelson. “It’s good watching it with friends, seeing who our next president and vice president are going to be.”

Senior Yewande Alimi, SU vice president of finance, who also sat in the crowd in Tisch Commons watching the race, expressed exhilaration at seeing Sen. Barack Obama sweep the presidential race.

“This is amazing—Barack Obama is the President-Elect. The fact that, one, an African-American is the President-Elected of the United States of America, and two, that it wasn’t just black people that voted for him, and three, Barack Obama is the President of the United States,” she laughed.

Alimi added that the victory contains a personal element for her, in addition to being nationally significant.

“It’s an overwhelming amount of people saying they’re sick and tired of the crap that’s been happening. It’s time, and I think change is coming,” she said. “This is amazing to be a student, an African-American woman, to be someone who can vote in this election—this is amazing.”