As of 4 p.m., voting lines at the Siebel Center for Design are facing the same issue as other polling places across the campus. Students reported four- to five-hour long waits to get to the voting booth.

Allie Jones, senior in LAS, commented on the conditions in line. “Everyone has been sitting on the floor together. So (there’s been) a cute little community that way,” Jones said. “But there’s a little bit of ‘hangry-ness’ going on.”

To help mitigate these issues, the community has come to their aid. Michael Gergeni, junior in LAS, is one of the volunteers handing out food and water with the help of the community and candidates. 

“We’re here just handing out food, handing out water a bit, handing out pizza as well to people in line,” Gergeni said.

According to Gergeni, he and the other volunteers have no party affiliation, and much of their support was from the community and the candidates in the race.

“I know Paul Faraci, a state senator, just stopped by a little bit ago,” Gergeni said. “We have some water here now. He dropped that off. Also, his team ordered pizza that we’ll be distributing.”

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The line to vote at the Siebel Center for Design is nearly out the door in the early afternoon. 

Standing near the beginning of the line is Mark Joseph, manager of research and clinic support for the College of Applied Health Sciences. With decades of voting experience, Joseph said he has never seen an election like this.

“I’ve generally been a progressive voter, but rarely did I ever feel that candidates would be an impossible choice,” Joseph said. “I’ve been voting for 40 years. Over 40 years, I’ve never felt like, ‘Oh my God, it would be catastrophic for democracy if things didn’t go the way I hoped.’”

Joseph thinks Kamala Harris is not a perfect candidate — he said her tendency to “answer things rather strategically instead of answering them honestly” during debates makes him skeptical. 

However, Joseph is most concerned about the “rights of women to choose their own care” and said it would be catastrophic for democracy if Donald Trump is elected for a second term. 

Worried for the future of America, Joseph said he will be optimistic, albeit anxious, about the future of the country.

“It’s hard to understand how other people don’t see it your way, and I think it’s really important to continue keeping an open mind about other people’s opinions and not assuming that because people don’t agree with one another that they’re necessarily wrong or bad people,” Joseph said. 

Anu Atomori, junior in LAS, was also in line to vote for Harris. Near the front door of the SCD, the wait will exceed two hours for Atomori.

Like Joseph, Atomori is anxious but hopes there will be no violence in response to the result of the election: Atomori also acknowledges Harris has her pitfalls.

Atomori said she does not agree with Harris on foreign policy, namely her continued support for Israel and lack of attention to the crisis in Congo. Yet, she feels that Harris is the better alternative to Trump. 

“It’s better to make sure that the house is not burned first so that we could fix the yard and everything outside,” Atomori said. 

Down the street from SCD, lines at the ARC estimate a two-and-a-half-hour wait.

One student expressed surprise at classes not being canceled, despite the Illinois State Legislature recognizing Election Day as a University holiday in the two previous elections.

“I feel like when I was growing up, I always had Election Day off,” said Charlotte Judy, freshman in Business. “I don’t have a strong opinion on this, but I was able to get out of classes, so it was a little different for me.”

Judy said she chose to vote at the ARC as it was the closest location to her dorm. She intended to vote in the morning but left after the system outages halted the line.

Earlier this morning, Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons confirmed the county-wide network issues preventing voters from casting their ballots. The issues were resolved at approximately 8 a.m.

The ARC polling center is located in a multi-purpose room on the entrance level of the ARC. The line extends out of the door and into a nearby hallway. When asked what brought them out to vote, students expressed various reasons for waiting in line.

“I feel like the state of the country right now is not what I would want for future generations,” said Priyansha Shah, freshman in Engineering.

“I’m hoping that with my vote, there will be a change,” Shah said. “I am a minority, I’m a woman, so I’m hoping to fix things for myself, especially after Roe v. Wade was overturned.” 

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Long lines to vote persist across campus, even at the furthest polling places. FAR is experiencing long lines, although they are much shorter than those at the Illini Union, which snake through the ballroom to organize voters.

Nonetheless, spirits remain high among students and poll workers alike. Sally Oppong, sophomore in AHS, commented on the high morale. 

“I feel like everyone’s excited (to) be at the polls today,” Oppong said. “For me personally, this is my first time being able to vote in an election.”

Poll workers at FAR reported no major issues — save for the temporary outage this morning — and said they were happy to see the huge turnout.

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As Election Day begins, students and community members are lining up all around campus, ready to cast their votes. At the Illini Union, the line is wrapped around the building, filled with people sitting and waiting.

County voting system issues halted lines, but as of 8:03 a.m., Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons announced the system was fixed. At 8:20 a.m., voters stood up, and the line began to move quickly. 

At the Illinois Street Residence Hall polling station, students lined up as well, with the line moving much slower than the one at the Union.

“I’ve been waiting here since about like 6:30 a.m., so roughly two hours,” said Malaika Mburu, junior in LAS, who voted at ISR. “I did have to skip a work meeting (for voting), but that’s about it.”

However, by 10:47 a.m., there were less than a dozen in line at ISR. At the polling station in the University YMCA, the line was shorter compared to the Union. 

“I’d say (I have waited) 20 minutes,” said Ryan Moore, freshman in Media. “But I’m thinking about (missing class to vote) because I have a class at 10. If it goes past that, I might, but I don’t know.”

Despite the voting system working again, many prospective voters in the Union are still facing delays. 

“I went to my small local town to vote, and the computer system was down, so it delayed my voting,” said Brenda Roy, office administrator for the Natural History Building at the University. “I came over here and jumped in line, and I’ve been in line for about 40 minutes.”

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