On Election Day, Nov. 5, droves of students showed up to vote and register to vote in the Brown Ballroom at the Bone Student Center. As the day continued, the voting lines increased, with students waiting one to three hours to cast their ballot. The line included sophomore general marketing major and first-time voter Sophia Ramos, who waited an hour and 40 minutes to register and vote.
Some students who initially entered the Bone Student Center to vote saw the lines and left after realizing how long it would take to make it into the Brown Ballroom. Ramos worried that the long lines discouraged voters.
“Yes, [it is discouraging] just because it is a long line. However, we still pushed ourselves to come,” Ramos said.
Many Illinois State University students are first-time voters this election. The long voting process raised concerns among some students about voter discouragement.
“Even I could see that the line was long,” Olabisi Kuku, a senior psychology major, said. “Thank goodness I registered to vote earlier, but, yeah, I think that would sway potential voters away.”
Kuku, along with several others, mentioned registering early. Most people in the line were unregistered and planned on registering and voting at the Bone Student Center. While unregistered voters waited hours, registered voters could nearly cut the entire line and only had to wait about 10 to 15 minutes.
Adam Fiaz, a junior secondary education major, and his friend Lucas Smith, a junior finance major, also expressed their discouragement when arriving at the Bone Student Center.
“I would definitely say 75% of people are probably discouraged by this line. We were definitely one of those,” Fiaz said.
Smith blamed registering as the main problem for the long line.
“I don't think the polling stations are the problem. I think it's just registering,” Smith said.
Although these two voters decided to stick it out, many potential voters left the line after realizing its true length.
When Ramos entered the Brown Ballroom, she did not know what to expect.
“I was definitely shocked and very confused,” Ramos said.
Although most of the Bone Student Center voters were first-time voters, a few had already voted in the 2020 election. Among those 2020 voters was Lane Nichols, a senior physics major.
“The first time I voted, the experience, overall, was kind of different because I am from a small town, so, I walked in, there's a room with maybe 30 people…this time, it’s a lot more chaotic,” Nichols said.
Nichols expressed much more willingness to stay in line as a second-time voter, even though he still said he was frustrated with the wait times. Sophomore physics major Jarrett Webb described the experience as being “painful.”
“It's a bit of a pain,” Webb said. “A lot of people say, ‘Oh, I don't want to stand in line for 30 minutes.’”
Webb had vastly underestimated the line length when he entered the Bone Student Center. Many who had waited nearly two hours expressed much more frustration.
“There should be more voting locations than just the Bone, this is a university of, like, 20,000 students,” Webb said.
Multiple students said there should be more places to vote on campus to shorten lines. Nichols proposed another solution.
“I think the big thing with just ISU in general is encouraging a lot of these students,” Nichols said. “Have their teachers talk about it in class, registering earlier”
Although students expressed frustration with the lines, excitement to cast a ballot was still in the air, especially for first-time voters.
“I am very excited. I think there is no better time than this election to vote,” Fiaz said. “I think the country is just very divided, so I think voting is something that brings people together.”
The Bone Student Center’s Brown Ballroom voting location will close at 7 p.m. However, voters who are still in line at 7 p.m. are entitled to vote.
