There were few cars in the parking lot of St. Cecilia’s Catholic church at noon Tuesday.

Sally Greve, Ames resident and election administrator said that it had been very slow all morning but that this kind of election was usually slow.

“We’ve been open since 7 a.m. this morning and we’re at number 73,” Greve said.

Voters who came to the church were given the choice between filling out a digital ballot or a paper one.

“It’s pretty simple, it’s just a matter of getting used to something digital instead of writing it down,” Greve said.

Pat Cain, Ames resident and election official, said that each precinct had a digital voting machine in it.

“They’re kind of looking to phase those in,” Cain said.

The voting machines are currently being leased. Cain said that the current thinking is that the touch screen machines that are being used now, will be replaced with something in the future that is a cross between the old ballots and the new electronic ones.

He said that there was an interesting generational split between people who were willing to try the new machines and people that wanted to stick with the old ballots.

“You get a lot of college age people who are good with computers, mid-range people are the most skeptical and then the older residents who want to try it out,” Cain said.

Cain said that there were a few rental properties in Ward 2 but that they hadn’t seen many students that morning. He said that there were other wards that students were more concentrated in.

He said that a lot of the residents that come and vote at the church are long-term residents.

Dorothy Burkheimer of Ames said that she voted because it was her duty.

“It’s my privilege to vote, I’m supposed to do it, I’ve been doing it since I was old enough to do it,” Burkheimer said.

She said that she didn’t think that there were enough students voting.

“It’s too bad that students don’t recognize the privilege that they have,” Burkheimer said.

James Romer of Ames said that he thought that it was the obligation of citizens to exercise their privilege to vote.

“It’s not something that everyone around the world gets to do,” Romer said. “When I do have kids I’ll tell them that it’s part of their civic duty.”

When it comes to the student vote he said that it was frustrating that the students weren’t encouraged to be more involved.

“It’s upsetting to me when they have votes during the summer when students aren’t here,” Romer said. “Yet the last time the census came out all of the residents were saying that the students should register here because they live here for most of the year.”

However, he said that when it comes to voting there isn’t as much of an emphasis.

He said that it wasn’t really a tough decision for him when it came time to choose who to vote for but he said that he always votes for the person and not along party lines.