Cutting Class: Student Voting Across America

The youth vote has been one of the most constant themes of the 2008 campaign... at least excluding those that involved plumbers, change or that tingling sensation in Chris Matthews' leg.

It's a demographic that has been dazzled by Barack Obama (2.4 million "supporters" on Facebook compared to 625,000 for John McCain), and was one that his campaign was counting on for significant support.

The big question all along has been "will they actually show up when it matters?" Just a little over halfway through the day in much of the country, those college students seem to be grading out as Incomplete.

Students at a polling place near Temple University in Philadelphia were waiting on a 45-minute line at last check. That same polling place had a very short line for much of the morning. Here's a video report from the invaluable Palestra.net. (Short lines at USC as well)

At Ohio State, the polling places near campus report having a steady flow of voters during the lunch hour... but multiple empty voting machines around 2:00 pm.

Students are waiting in long lines at the University of Michigan (link goes to another Palestra.net video).

Lines are much shorter at the University of Missouri.

Not that it really matters, but the turnout at several schools in Illinois has been reported as light as well. There was no line at Loyola University in Chicago and a very short wait at the University of Illinois. And then there's Northwestern University on the North Side of Chicago.

There's a rock on campus that student groups can "reserve" and paint for a day. Check out the paint job for today.