With an umbrella affixed to a parking sign above him, Jim Vandiveer stood by the Midland entrance to St. Luke's Methodist Church at noon Tuesday.
Holding a cell phone in one hand and campaign signs in the other, Vandiveer waited and watched as voters arrived to cast their ballots.
Vandiveer, president of The U of M College Democrats, stood across from a row of Bush signs staked in the ground.
The St. Luke's precinct is the designated voting site for U of M students who registered with Richardson Towers, Mynders, Rawls, Smith or West halls as their address.
"As of 1 p.m., out of 861 registered voters in this precinct, 508 have voted," Vandiveer said.
According to numbers he received by phone from the Shelby County Election Commission, 291 of those were early voters.
One U of M student who was voting for the first time said she had a strange experience before entering the polling booth.
"As they checked my registration information, I was told by poll workers how most people were voting on the referendum," said Adriane Fertitta, a junior psychology major. "I also find it strange that I have to come to a house of God to cast my vote."
Fertitta, a resident of Mynders Hall, said she never received her voter registration card.
"My boyfriend and I registered at the same time, and he got his card," Fertitta said. "They had my name on the list at the precinct though."
As another first time voter walked out of the Highland church, she considered the possibility of a voting location on campus.
"If there were a location on campus, it would be a lot more convenient," said Anna Turman, a freshman criminal justice major.
St. Luke's Church is located about a half mile from the center of The U of M campus.
Turman, who lives in Richardson Towers, registered to vote during a weeklong drive in her dormitory.
"I think that student turnout today will be pretty big," Turman said. "This morning people seemed really excited to get out and cast their vote."
Turman said that everyone she had talked to was planning to vote Tuesday.Though students were slowly trickling into St. Luke's some five hours after polls opened, Jim Vandiveer expected an increase in turnout as afternoon classes ended.
Tatiana Henriquez, a sophomore English major, said she thought that student turnout would be high.
"There are a lot of passionate people on this campus," she said. "I registered here on campus and a lot of my friends registered here as well."
Henriquez said one of her friends wasn't excited about getting out in the rain to cast her vote, but she's going anyway.
"They seem fired up to get out today," she said of other students living in Rawls Hall.
At one point Tuesday afternoon, residents living on the dorm's fifth floor were yelling down at passing students, urging them to get out and vote.
"One of my friends is driving all the way home to Jackson to vote today," Henriquez said.
