Number of voters at Ritchie Coliseum:          284

Number of voters at Stamp Student Union:   48

The 48-student turnout at Stamp Student Union precincts, while not enough to influence election results, grew significantly from the primary four years ago.

The 38-voter increase, however, did not indicate significant changes in student apathy, long a complaint of past Student Government Association leaders and some politicians, especially after only 10 voters cast ballots in the Student Union in the 2002 primary. Candidates had expressed hope for a significant turnout that would have strongly influenced results in a year of hotly contested primaries.

“If they want lower tuition, to lower the cost of textbooks and bringing better funding and building facilities, they can do that by voting twice: once in the primary, and once in the general election,” state Sen. John Giannetti’s campaign manager David Singer said. “It only takes one election where students turn out the vote and become a force. This could be that defining election.”

But this was not that defining election, despite a stronger-than-usual two-pronged campaign by SGA leaders and non-profit student organization Maryland Votes to register state voters for College Park precincts and re-register out of state voters.

SGA and Maryland Votes got a late start, however, and worked mostly during the summer – when most qualified students were away – going door-to-door in search of potential voters. The deadline for primary registration passed more than a week before school began, leaving anyone who registered after Aug. 22 as qualified to vote only in the general election on Nov. 7.

That could have contributed to low turnout, although SGA President Emma Simson called the modest increase a success.

“I’m definitely pleased to see that number go up,” Simson said. “But I definitely think we can improve that for the general [election].”

Maryland Votes has appeared in several entry-level classes within the first week of school, with representatives giving a short speech on the importance of voting and registering students at the end of class.

Despite low numbers at the Student Union, the university’s closest neighboring polling place, 284 people voted in Ritchie Coliseum, which hosted voters for the first time.

Ritchie Coliseum, the precinct for most students and residents living in downtown neighborhoods, overcame a delayed starting time and some confusion concerning parking. Starting at 7 a.m., 15 voters lined up outside Ritchie for a half hour waiting to vote as election judges hurried to set up the computer registration system.

Morgan Gale, the president of the Calvert Hills Citizens Assocation, who stood outside the precinct throughout the morning and some of the afternoon, said though no students were affected by the glitch, only one vote was cast during the period and several voters left discouraged by the wait.

“It’s all computers, and none of us knew what the hell we were doing,” said Ritchie Coliseum election judge John Daly. “We hadn’t had enough training with the actual process. It took about half an hour of pressing buttons to figure it out.”

Computer problems recurred later in the day when voters’ names failed to register in the voter file, and Gale accused election officials of not offering the provisional ballots mandated by law.

“I asked them for paper ballots, and they were dragging their feet,” said Faith Rodell, a poll watcher in former regent Jim Rosapepe’s campaign.

Alisha Alexander, the assistant election administrator for Prince George’s County said only that election judges were instructed to offer provisional ballots to voters not in the database. Provisional ballots are paper ballots issued for those voting outside their district or who may be denied a regular ballot if there is a computer error.

Across the region yesterday, polling problems were widespread, leading officials to extend voting by an hour in Montgomery County and Baltimore.

Both the SGA and Maryland Votes have continued to register voters since the cut-off day for the primary, and Simson plans on working with student groups such as the Black Student Union, Latino Student Union and Asian American Student Union to increase registration.

Unlike in her inaugural speech, Simson declined to name a target number for general election student turnout, but said she expects the governor race will draw more students to the polls.

“I think that will have a huge pool,” Simson said. “I think a lot more students pay attention to that race.”

Contact reporters Ben Slivnick and Alan J. McCombs at slivnickdbk@gmail.com.