One hundred and eighteen NIU students voted in the Campus Recreation Center on Tuesday.

Senior journalism major Christopher Gibbs was one of the students who voted Tuesday in the Rec Center. He said that he voted because it is important.

“I’m voting to play a part in the country,” Gibbs said. “I mean, everybody should vote. You’re bringing in elected officials, you don’t want them to come in and do something you don’t like. You want to bring in trusted officials.”

Vanessa Jaimes, a freshman speech language and pathology major, said that she wanted to vote, but like many NIU students, was unable because she was not registered in DeKalb. She said she tried to register during the grace period registration, but was unable.

“I tried to register, but I got there near the end,” Jaimes said. “I couldn’t register because I forgot my driver’s license. By the time I’d be able to get back with it, registration would have been over.”

Election official Lynn Fazekassaid she works for the 12th Precinct. She said they had a few people vote, but not as many as other precincts.

“I think the last midterm our precinct got 30,” Fazekas said. “So that’s what we were hoping for today.”

Fazekas said the low student turnout on election day could be a result of students participating in the early voting.

“I’m guessing there was an impact by early voting,” Fazekas said. “Because our precinct got 300 votes.”

Karen Dorado, a freshman elementary education major, also voted in the Rec center on Tuesday.

“I think it’s important to vote,” Dorado said. “I know a lot of people don’t think their vote counts, but if no one voted, then it really wouldn’t count.”

Students living in Douglas, Grant, Lincoln and Stevenson were all eligible to vote in the Rec center.