Students who voted in this year’s election have all kinds of opinions about who should be the president of the United States and the governor of Washington, but one thing they all seem to agree on is that getting out and voting is very important.

“It’s a responsibility as a citizen,” said freshman Catherine Ling, who voted for the first time at yesterday’s polls. “The process is new for me, but it’s fun and important.”

Many students, as might be expected, voted along the traditional party lines. Freshman Aymeric Prieur voted for John McCain and Dino Rossi for president and governor, respectively. Prieur felt voting was especially important for Republicans in this election because “many people are voting for Obama, but I really don’t agree with him, so I think it’s important for people to get out and vote for McCain.”

It seems the majority of students voted for Barack Obama and Christine Gregoire, including senior Kevin Kerr. Important issues that influenced his decision were “issues like the economy, the Iraq war, abortion rights [and] funding for education.”

Not all students, though, voted according to partisanship. Some simply wanted something different. Junior Jonathan Luo liked Obama’s message of change and hope, but wasn’t willing to re-elect Gregoire.

“After four years of Gregoire, there needed to be an evaluation of how she’s done,” Luo said.

In the end, he decided to vote Obama for president, but Rossi for governor.

Other students didn’t like Obama or McCain, and went another direction entirely. Junior Daniel Hart wrote in Ron Paul for president and voted Rossi for governor.

“I couldn’t, in good conscience, vote for either McCain or Obama,” he said. “It’s my responsibility to support candidates who would best run my state, county and country.”

That seemed to be the driving factor behind students going out and voting: expressing their opinion as to who was in the best position to guide the state and the country in the right direction.

“Voting is a way to voice my opinions on our governing bodies, to express myself,” Luo said.

Volunteers said many students had difficulty voting, because they had failed to register at their school address, and so were not meant to vote at the U-District polling places. That meant that those students had to fill out some paperwork and use a provisional ballot in order to cast their vote. Despite the inconvenience, students seemed determined to vote and have their voices heard.

To Kerr, that was the most encouraging thing he’s seen this election season.

“It’s a fundamental American right, and this year it looks like a lot of the youth are turning out,” he said.

Reach contributing writer Randy Ferreiro at news@dailyuw.com