WashU’s Danforth Campus saw a record high voter turnout on election day. (Sam Powers | Junior Photo Editor).

Just over 2,000 people voted in the 2024 election across two polling locations on WashU’s Danforth and Medical Campuses, with the largest voter turnout in history, per the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement. 

This election was the first time that the Medical Campus served as a voting location, with 486 people casting ballots there. Turnout at the Danforth Campus polling location was 1,479, increasing by 38.4% compared to 1,156 voters in the 2020 presidential election. 949 people voted during the 2022 midterm elections. 

Stephanie Kurtzman, Executive Director of the Gephardt Institute, said that she sees the higher turnout as part of a national trend.

“Students poured in throughout the day along with University employees and other county residents,” Kurtzman wrote in a statement to Student Life. “Importantly, we also know that many students voted absentee before Election Day in Missouri or their home state.” 

Junior Alex Wills, who is from California, voted in Missouri, and noted the multiple parallels he sees between his own life and Vice President Kamala Harris’ experiences. 

“I’m a California Democrat,” Wills said. “Kamala Harris worked at the same McDonald’s that I frequent the most in my hometown, in Alameda, California. I mean, her being from Oakland, very personal to me, the issues that she’s running on, also very personal.”

First-year Zoe Lester said voting on campus felt particularly comfortable and safe.

“It feels like a very supportive place … I have no words,” Lester said. “[It] just felt like a safe place where everyone else is just kind of doing the same thing and maybe also for the first time.” 

Some students, like Wills, were up early to vote at the Athletic Complex. Voters were lining up inside of the building before polls even opened. 

“I’m usually never up before 6 unless there’s a Formula One race,” Wills said.

First-year Maria DiBello, who voted in Missouri but is from New York, said voting was incredibly important to her. 

“We were quizzing each other in line before, to make sure we knew what we were voting on,” DiBello said. “We wanted to make sure we were using our vote to the fullest. We didn’t want to leave anything blank.”

Additionally, DiBello said voting in Missouri was critical to her since she wants to make a difference in St. Louis and Missouri. 

“I want to vote in Missouri because I’m voting for the things that are happening in St Louis County,” DiBello said. “I thought I could make a difference, not just on the national level, but at the state level in Missouri, on things that I thought were important, like reproductive healthcare.” 

Senior Sydney Spangler similarly said that although she was from Massachusetts, she was voting in Missouri since there were issues that she felt her vote could impact.

“​​There are ballot initiatives that I cared about more on the Missouri ballot than on the Massachusetts ballot,” Spangler said. “I felt like my vote had more of an impact in Missouri than Massachusetts.”

Senior Nora Jarquin said that seeing such a range of people in line to vote was exciting. 

“It was fun to see friends in line and even professors or a police officer,” Jarquin said. “[There’s] so many like random people all there together to vote. It’s very exciting.”

1,479 people voted in the Athletic Complex on November 5, with another 486 voting at the Medical Campus. (Bri Nitsberg | Managing Photo Editor).