Few DeKalbians were surprised that no candidate was officially declared as president Tuesday night.

“I’m not at all surprised; all the polls in recent weeks have predicted a very close race,” said DeKalb resident Ed Hanson.

Ferald Bryan, a communications professor, said he was “surprised at the lack of surprise” of the nationwide results. Given this, as of 10 p.m. he said he felt confident a president would be elected by sunrise and not in the coming weeks.

As of early Wednesday, three states would not be officially called, including Iowa, Ohio and New Mexico. Before the election, Ohio was deemed as a key state that could swing Republican or Democrat. Both President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry spent a lot of time in the state just before the election knowing it would be a close call, or in Tuesday night’s case, no call.

NIU President John Peters said when he visited Ohio just before the election, he was not able to watch television without being confronted by both candidates’ advertisements.

Halfway through the election, as the candidates were in a dead heat, Peters said Kerry must win Ohio to win the presidency.

Bryan said the same, adding that Kerry’s economic message in the the final weeks could sway Ohio’s electorate.

Illinois’s 21 electoral votes were declared as Kerry’s early in the evening. But some DeKalb precincts showed same margins similar to national ones.

Paul Culhane, a political science professor who worked as an election official for DeKalb precinct 35, found that 79 percent of the precinct voted, and Kerry won by 1 percent.

He found this amazing and said this slice of “middle-america” is usually a Republican stronghold.

As of about 10:30 p.m., Culhane was not confident the election results would be available by the end of the night. “We may know tomorrow or in December.”

Despite the slim margin the evening concluded with, DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow was confident that Bush would win.

“I figured Florida would go with Bush and then Ohio,” he said.