Over 1,500 students turned up to vote at one of on-campus polling places by 5 p.m., two hours before the polls closed. Eight University residence halls and centers, including the ARC, SDRP, ISR residence hall and PAR residence hall were designated polling places.

“I think especially young people should develop the habit of voting. It’s amazing to see how excited some of these people are; it’s the heart of our democracy,” said Scott Dossett, retired employee of the University, at Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall’s polling place.

University students echoed Dossett’s sentiment, expressing what is for many their first time voting.

“I printed out a sample ballot last night and so I kind of knew what to expect, even though it was my first time voting,” said Sharon Cho, junior in FAA.

Nora Sadik, senior in Engineering said, “Participating now is exciting. At the same time, we don’t live in a swing state, so I don’t feel like it really counts. I kind of wish we had a popular vote (system).”

Multiple students mentioned how easy it was to register on campus during Quad Day. Kathleen Stark, freshman in Media, signed up on Quad Day because “it was just more convenient.” Brian Kolasa, freshman in ACES agreed with Stark.

“I chose to vote out here because I signed up on the quad and it was pretty easy compared to going home and signing up for an absentee ballot,” said Kolasa.

But registering on the Quad didn’t go quite as smoothly for everyone. Jacob Fleener, sophomore in LAS, was turned away from voting at Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall because he was accidentally registered to vote at his home in Lincoln, Ill., rather than his address at Pennsylvania Avenue Residence Hall.

“I wish they’d make (registering) a little easier,” Fleener said.

While many students had the option to vote early and absentee at their, many students made the choice to vote in Champaign.

“We are here 9 months out of the 12 months of the year so we might as well (vote here),” said Jason Ofodile, junior in kinesiology.

Voting on campus started to peak around 11 a.m., but some early birds showed up to vote ahead of the crowds, like Hannah Larson, sophomore in DGS.

“I came to vote early to avoid long lines,” Larson said, who voted at ISR.

Victoria Reisinger, junior in Nursing, voted later on in the day despite a heavy schedule.

“Even though I have a million things to do, it’s my privilege to vote so I made a point to come out and vote,” she said.

Carina Lee, Yele Ajayi, Tyler Davis, Ilya Gurevic, Abigail Solano, Madeline Raheyem and Christina Pawlowski contributed to this article.