Collegiate Times

Wertz added that class schedules could prevent students from going to the polls. However campus leaders were confident that student voters would get out the vote.

Carlin Crowder, chair for the College Republicans at Virginia Tech, said that the hours that the polling places are open give students plenty of time to get out to the polls.

"They've made sure polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. -- it's a 13-hour window," Crowder said. "It's a perfectly large window for students to get out there and vote."

Dan Geroe, president of Young Democrats at Virginia Tech, encouraged students to get to the polls.

"There could be lines, but in the end you can't let that turn you away," Geroe said. "This is the most important election for the next 20 years."

Despite worries to the contrary, Wertz was confident that the election would run smoothly. However, in the event of something wrong, the county has prepared multiple backup options. Beyond the extra workers and machines to voting areas, the county has also purchased paper ballots in case the need arises.

Wertz said that there have been technical issues with several of the voting machines in the past.

"We had some issues with some of these because one of the power switches where the power gets to the DRE (direct-recording electric voting machine) was loose, so whenever you had it inside the case, the power would shift, so you wouldn't be able to feed electricity into the battery and it would die," Wertz said.

However, Wertz assured that repairs were made to the machine, and that the voting machines would be working at full strength on Election Day.

Another problem that Wertz predicted could occur is voters wearing candidate paraphernalia within the confines of the polling areas. According to state law, voters are prohibited from wearing items such as T-shirts, buttons or stickers that broadcast a political message within 40 feet of a polling area's entrance. Wertz said the county has figured out a plan to deal with those breaking the rules.

"The way we've been instructed by the state board to handle (shirts) it is to have them take it off, or reverse them, or do something to hide it," Wertz said. "State law is really clear that if they go within that 40 feet and wear that then it's considered campaigning."

Wertz said they would take the names and addresses of people breaking the law and turn it over to the state attorney. The offense is a class-one misdemeanor; it would not affect a person's ability to vote.

Another item that has yet to be seen is the financial cost of the election for the county. While Wertz wasn't able to figure out an exact monetary cost for running the election, he was sure the costs would be substantial.

"This will be the most expensive election that we've ever had," Wertz said.

With the elections only days away, polls have shown the two presidential candidates with only a slight margin between them. According to a Rasmussen poll taken Oct. 29, Democrat Barack Obama holds a nine-point lead over his Republican rival, John McCain, in Virginia.

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