Student motives for voting yesterday ranged from a vested interest in the issues to obedience of a parent’s directive, but the results were staggeringly uniform.

President-elect Barack Obama outdid John McCain 1,097-to-148 in the polls hosted in the Suquehanna Room of the Old University Union. Six booths were initially set up for Town of Vestal voting districts 24, 25, 26 and 27, which cover BU’s residence halls, but a seventh was brought in when one of the machines’ levers broke.

The results are unofficial until certified by the Broome County Board of Elections, and do not include affidavit and emergency ballots.

The majority of voters came in during the morning hours, with some ready to vote even at the polls’ 6 a.m. opening — something election officials said they had not seen in past years.

“I wanted to be a participant in this historical vote,” said Shamarie McDonald, a senior and sociology major who voted early in the day. “I feel like I’m part of something bigger than myself. This is the first time a lot of young people are actually excited about voting.”

Yesterday was the first presidential election many were able to participate in, which made voting itself a novel draw. Students talked about the excitement of just standing in the booth, as well as the confusion the machines presented at first glance.

“I just never saw anything like that,” Tom St. Pierre, a junior majoring in anthropology and history, said. “I had to take a look at it for a second and was like, ‘What is this?’”

For some students, like senior spanish major Jeyson Fernandez, Tuesday was not just an individual’s first opportunity to vote, but a family’s first opportunity to vote. Fernandez, an immigrant from Honduras, recently received his citizenship and said he did not cast his vote with only himself in mind, but his family’s as well.

For others, it took parental motivation to get to the polls.

“I actually forgot and my mother called me and reminded me,” Starleana Holmes, a junior pscyhology major, said. “She woke me up in the afternoon.”

“I’m not going to lie, my dad had a lot of influence on me,” said sophomore economics major Melissa Caballero.

Confusion arose for students who believed they had registered but, according to the County’s records, had not. Residence on campus does not equate to voter registration in the area, but on the day of, some still remained unsure of their designated precint, or simply forgot to look into the matter.

“I wasn’t thinking about the voting until I happened to pass by walking, it’s my own fault,” said a student who preferred to remain anonymous.

Some students were allowed to fill out a ballot outside of the poll booth which will be sent to the Board for cross-referencing and approval, but officials said many of them would probably not count. The process takes one to two weeks.

District 24, which had the most registered voters — 1,014 spanning the Hinman, Susquehanna and Hillside communities — and had to contend with the broken poll, was the last district to report its results, shortly before 10 p.m. Polls closed at 9 p.m.

A machine malfunctioning during an election is rare according to Fred Brooks, chairman of election inspectors for the district. Students who were slated to vote at that particular machine, which broke down around 3:15 p.m., were switched to paper ballots, and a functional machine arrived within an hour.

Poll workers enjoyed the event, despite the fatigue of a day that lasted over 15 hours.

“The students are so enthusiastic and theyr’e excited, so many first timers and they come out and they’re all smiles,” Laura Kallen, who worked at District 24’s poll, said. “They’re all excited and it’s wonderful.”