Election Day Stories 2012
Election Day. The candidates have finished campaigning. Election volunteers are getting out the vote, working the polls and making last minute phone calls. Voters will finally have the chance to have their say.
College of Communications multimedia students posted Election Day stories throughout the day.
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First time voter
Zach Magnotta, 21, voted for the first time today. The endless line snaking into his State College polling place did not make him any less enthusiastic about casting his first ballot. Although he brought his driver's license and voter ID card, he said the polling officials did not ask him to present any form of identification.
~ by Eric Visintainer
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Election Day reunion
Dave Ruggiero is the community supported agriculture manager for Village Acre Farm in Mifflintown, which delivers fresh organic produce and other farm products to clients in State College nearly every Tuesday of the year. The distribution point just so happens to be outside of a popular polling location for Penn State students. So once a year -- and especially during presidential election years -- Ruggiero gets a unique perspective of the voting process, sharing the voting day experience of students and State College residents.
~ by Mike Stehlin
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Students for Barack Obama hoping for high student turnout
Kathryn Perrotta has been preparing for the election with Students for Barack Obama and is hoping that students exercise their right today and vote.
~ by Rena Samuels
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Jay Helps Voters
Jay Paterno, son of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, was in the HUB-Robeson Center Tuesday helping college students navigate their way through the polling center.
Paterno said that he believes that it's important for young Americans to vote. He encourages them to get out and vote, no matter which candidate they support.
~ by Brian Cronauer
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First Vote First of Many to Come
Ishara Pinkney-Lee, a senior, studying psychology had the opportunity Tuesday to vote for the first time. She had made sure she was registered and knew exactly where she would be casting her ballot. It was an empowering experience for the Penn State senior who said she will continue to make voting a tradition every four years.
~ by Amanda Valdes
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Campaign volunteer continues tradition
MOUNTAIN TOP - Campaign volunteers come and go on election day, but Rice Township resident Kevin Rogan, a campaign volunteer for incumbent Rep. Gerald Mullery, makes it a priority to work election day every year. Rogan said he has volunteered in about 10 elections, including this year's general election. He stopped by the Rice Township polling place in the local fire hall about 6:45 a.m. and worked outside the building throughout the day.
~ by Brian Yermal
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Blogging From the Polls
The polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday and closed 13 hours later. A Daily Collegian reporter was on the scene to live blog from each polling place in the State College area. Toi Bain (senior-journalism) was outside the Friends Meeting House at 611 E. Prospect Ave. to post what happened at the polls between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.
~ by Alyse Horn
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Excercising Their Right NOT to Vote
Even with an effort to get out the vote for college students, some people are still opting not to head over to the polls. For two Penn State students, the urge to vote is not as important as it may be when they graduate.
~ by Mirella Wells
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First-time Voters
Thousands of Penn State students cast their vote in the Hub-Robertson Center at Penn State Tuesday. For many this was their first time voting.
~by Allen Vickers
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A Vote for Romney
First-time voter Kaila Lundgren talks about her decision to vote for Mitt Romney for President. Lundgren, a health policy and administration major, disagrees with Obama’s current health care policy and hopes Romney wins the election.
~by Ashley Zucker
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A Republican voter goes to the polls
Nikki Broome is a Pennsylvania voter who is a Republican and plans to vote for Mitt Romney during this presidential election.
~ by Dana Griffin
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First-time voter hits the polls
Gabriella Colombo is a senior at Penn State studying Biobehavioral Health. Colombo is a first time voter in this 2012 presidential election and was excited to express her American right to vote and let her voice be heard.
~ by Christiana Pascale
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Interest From the Other Side of the World
Ruth Merritt , the Judge of Elections for Precinct 17 in State College, PA., was interviewed by a student journalist from China, reminding Merritt that the whole world is watching our Election Night.
~ by Matt Reilly
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A Photojournalist at the Polls
Sarah Finnegan, photo editor for The Daily Collegian, tells how she finds and captures images while covering the election Tuesday, and the difficulties of being a photojournalist under a new rule which prohibits photography within 10 feet of a polling place.
~by Kelly Tunney
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Working the polls for the GOP
Doug Hartman works outside the Halfmoom Township polling place on Election Day for the Republican Party. Early Tuesday morning, he was passing out pamphlets to voters as they waited in line to cast their ballot.
~by Brittany Corl
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Volunteer for Obama
Bob Fox is a senior IST major at Penn State. He has been volunteering with the Obama campaign by helping to raise voting awareness on Election Day. He has never done something like this before, but says it is a rewarding experience. He plans on being directly involved in the election for years to come.
~ by Mike Bray
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Former county prosecutor volunteers at the polls
A former prosecutor with the Centre County District Attorney's office, local lawyer Tony De Boef is spending Election Day as a polling place attorney with the Democratic Party. In that role, he's keeping an eye out for possible violations at the State College Municipal Building on Allen Street.
~ by Casey McDermott
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Romney Supporter vies for last-minute votes
Dale Lancaster, a local Mitt Romney supporter, chatted with Harris Township voters this morning as they stood together before casting their ballots. Although, many come to the polls already knowing whom they are going to vote for, Lancaster hoped to swing the few voters who were still undecided.
~ by Jennifer Swales
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As the polls open
As the polls open, Rachel Fanchesin and Kristine Surgent guide voters to their proper polling places in the HUB on the morning of Election Day.
~ by Allison Robertson
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The volunteer
Steve Miller spent election day as an election volunteer outside of the State College Evangelical Free Church, talking to voters about the proposal on the ballot to ban fracking. He spoke about his first election experience in 1972, when he was in college.
~ by Lynn Ondrusek