With a historical election taking place today, registered voters were out in full force all day at the Fairlawn Fire Department.

“The line has been long all day,” said election center volunteer Ann Craig. “This is a great turnout for [this area].”

When voters arrived at the election center they were direct to stand in a line with one line for voters with last names between A-L and the other for M-Z. Voters voiced concerns over separating the lines.

“This is weird,” Francoise Vadghan said. “The alphabetical order should not apply.”

It was reported that the line with last names of A through L had an hour wait most of the day while the M through L was only a few minutes during the middle of the day.

“I had to wait 40 minutes,” Craig said. “And I got here at 7 a.m.”

The long wait forced some voters to leave and then comeback later.

“I was here at 11 a.m.,” said Radford University student Kyle Kolbenstetter. “I had class so I had to leave and come back later.”

Voting booth issues were not a problem at the voting center as officials reported that only one voter had had problem with the system and that problem was fixed. Officials also reported that one polling unit was taken out of service early in the morning.

“I felt that the ballot was too simplistic,” Vadghan said. “I have lived in Virginia for 20 years and the ballots always seem to be an issue with me.”

The large increase in the number of registered voters seems to indicate how important U.S. citizens believe this election is.

“I registered in Radford because I wanted to have the experience of going to the polls,” Kolbenstetter said. “Since [the presidential election] only happens ever four years I thought it would be important.”

Economy is on the mind of most voters with polls in all states showing it as the most important topic. “I voted for McCain,” Vadghan said. “I don’t believe Obama will be able to come through with the promises he made to fix the economy.”

Matt LaBelle is a media studies student at Radford University.