Election officials at polling locations near campus said a good crowd turned out for Tuesday’s Midterm Elections, although student voters were lacking. 

Buildings around Kent State’s perimeter are converted to polling locations on election day. Voting for the November 4 general elections began at 6:30 a.m. at various locations throughout Kent, and ended at 7:30 p.m.

Fred Skok, voting location manager at ward 4, precinct A in the Kent State Recreation and Wellness Center said a reasonable number of students voted in the election.

“There usually aren’t many student voters for non-presidential elections,” Skok said. “The increase in student voters in this election may be because the election for governor, state representative and voting on Issue 21 are on the ballot.”

While the number of student voters at the Recreation and Wellness Center seemed to be higher than the number of residential voters, the number of student voters in ward 6, precinct D at the United Methodist Church on East Main Street was lacking student presence.

Roger Stiller, election official at the church location and emeritus lecturer of mathematics at Kent State, said a large number of registered voters in the ward 6, precinct D are students.

“Over 50 percent of registered voters in the precinct are students,” Stiller said. “It seems like we’ve had fewer than that actually coming in to vote.”

Darian Bennett, junior philosophy major, said this was her first time voting in an election, and voted at ward 5, precinct C in the rec center.

“My reason for voting is plain and simple,” Bennett said. “I don’t want governor Kasich to be re-elected.”

Around 7 p.m., Skok said ward 4, precinct A had a total number of 57 voters for the day.

“We had a steady number of voters coming in throughout the day,” Skok said. “Fifty-seven is a big number. In past years, we’ve had around 13 voters in the general election.”

Stiller said ward 6, precinct D had a total of 85 voters at 7 p.m., with regulars making up the majority of the total number of voters.

Contact Danielle Hess at [email protected].