Ana Sofia Mendoza, a 19-year-old sophomore at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, had quite the day on Nov. 5. She, like many of the first-time voters at her college, showed up to her local polling station — an arts center near campus called the Banana Factory — and was excited to cast her first ballot on Election Day. However, in order to do so, she and her fellow voters unexpectedly had to wait in line for hours upon hours first.
There seem to have been many factors that contributed to this abnormally-long wait time. First of all, the Banana Factory polling station is located in Northampton County — a major swing county within a major swing state — where campaigners have been going hard on “get out the vote” efforts for weeks. Plus, Lehigh classes were canceled all day for a “Civic Engagement Day,” which meant a ton of students were able to get in line, and stay in line, without risking missing an important lecture or getting docked attendance points. And then on top of that, according to The New York Times, there were only four voting machines at this polling location, and one even ended up temporarily breaking down.
In total, Mendoza waited six and a half hours to vote, having joined the line at around 11:00 a.m. and finally casting her ballot by 5:30 p.m. And while the experience was chaotic, overall, Mendoza tells Her Campus it was also kind of exhilarating.
“We were all very, very excited, especially knowing that we’re in Pennsylvania, which is one of the most important states this election,” Mendoza says. “Other people were saying that if they were in New York or Jersey or California or wherever — somewhere that it’s a secured either blue or red state — they would’ve just gone home. But knowing that in this election, for Pennsylvania, every single vote matters, they just had to stay there.”
Svea Wickelgren, a 21-year-old Lehigh senior, shares similar sentiments. “The energy overall was hype; everyone was dedicated and I didn’t hear one compliant,” she says. “To experience it firsthand was I guess frustrating, because of the long wait, but [also] sort of inspirational, because it seemed like we were all dedicated to making a difference together.”
Although the lines were extremely long, Mendoza describes an atmosphere of energy and camaraderie. “There were a bunch of organizations and individuals getting us food: pizza, breakfast sandwiches, candy, ice cream, water,” she says. “Since we’re all college students and we all go to the same campus, it was very nice having your friends around and seeing friendly faces.”
Adding to the hype were celebrities who made appearances at the Banana Factory throughout the day to boost morale and ensure people stayed in line to vote, including Wanda Sykes, Marisa Tomei, and Jonathan Groff — the latter of whom Mendoza even got to snag a photo with. “[People] were saying that he bought us pizzas. I’m not sure if that’s true or not.” (There were also rumors that Paul Rudd was going to show up, but he was actually spotted at polling stations near Temple and Villanova Universities instead.)
But fun and fanfare aside, the absurdly-long wait time at this polling center undoubtedly caused difficulties for those with additional responsibilities like jobs, family obligations, and health limitations, and was a real cause for concern — namely, that all those who wanted to cast their vote would not be able to. “Having to face six hours or longer to vote is completely unacceptable,” Ella Rossetti, a 21-year-old Lehigh senior, says. “There needs to be a revamping of polling places for campuses across the country. Besides Lehigh students, the few local community members mixed into our polling location were subject to these long lines, many of them elderly or disabled.”Â
Rossetti says she and two of her roommates were at the polls from 10:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. “We all feel strongly about the importance of protecting our individual freedoms as women, and our vote is critical in a state like Pennsylvania. With that, we never considered leaving despite how long the wait was,” she says. However, not everyone was as fortunate. “Many student groups had meetings in the afternoon, some other people had work. I had planned for a long day of school work. I have a project due tomorrow and an exam that really needed my attention, but instead I was in line. I’m paying the consequences of that now.”
According to ABC, the Democratic National Committee requested for the polls to stay open for an additional two hours to account for the long line, but a Northampton judge denied the request. Even still, everyone who was in line by the 8 p.m. cutoff time was still encouraged to stay in line — as the law states, if you’re in line at the time of a polling center’s closing time, you are entitled to cast your vote.
And that’s exactly what these students did. “I just voted,” TikTok user @yogurtparfaitlover told Her Campus via DM at 9:15 p.m. ET. “I was in line for six hours so I’m gonna nap.” That nap was more than earned.
Additional reporting by Tina Kolokathis.