BETHLEHEM, Pa. — They ate pizza and played board games. They stood in line for hours.
When the polling place ran out of "I Voted," stickers, they left disappointed after casting their ballots.
Some voters at the Banana Factory Arts Center in South Bethlehem on Tuesday night said they had been in line for six hours.
By nightfall, comedian Wanda Sykes and actors Marisa Tomei and Jonathan Groff showed up on behalf of the Kamala Harris campaign to show support.
Tomei, a star in films such as "My Cousin Vinny" and "The Wrestler," danced with students in line. Groff, of "Hamilton" fame, posed for photos and chatted.
"The Harris campaign reached out and said ‘Look we have some locations where there are long lines and people are waiting four or five hours and if you want to go over and encourage them to wait it out and stay in line they’d be happy about that,'" Sykes, who voted in Delaware County, Pa., told LehighValleyNews.com. "I picked here and I’m so happy I did.
"This so beats sitting at home, sweating it out, watching the news. This is inspiring. Regardless of the outcome it’s beautiful seeing young people participate in the process. It gives me hope."
Hundreds remained in line after 6 p.m. — a scene not entirely uncommon in other parts of the Lehigh Valley but perhaps one of the most extreme examples on an Election Day that capped a long and bruising campaign season.
The ACLU of Pennsylvania said a Northampton County judge refused a request to extend voting hours at the Banana Factory past the 8 p.m. cutoff time. However, people in line by that time won't be forbidden from voting.
Polls in Pennsylvania are supposed to close at 8 p.m., but under state election law, anyone in line at that time is permitted to vote.
It promised to be a long night for voters and poll workers.
President Judge Craig Dally's ruling came after a request by the Northampton County Democratic Committee that was joined by the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
A second lawsuit from the county’s Republican committee earlier Tuesday asked election officials to provide a list of every judge and inspector of elections — a request Dally granted.
Because of the overflow, Northampton County spokeswoman Becky Bartlett said the county delivered three more voting machines Tuesday and another in the evening to the polling place at 25 W. Third St., which is the main precinct for Lehigh University students.
The morning started with three machines but one went down early in the morning, Bartlett said. The four machines brought in later in the day gave the precinct a total of six.
When Nate Bowers went to vote late Tuesday morning, he struggled to find the end of the line, which wrapped around the building.
“I was surprised,” said Bowers, 19, a computer science student at Lehigh University.
“Every time I turned a corner there was just another entire block of [the] line. But I have to fulfill my civic duty. I have to vote no matter how long it takes.”
By early afternoon the wait was estimated to be three to four hours.
Brendan Xanthos, 19, joined the end of the line behind Bowers just before noon.
Because of the length of the line, Xanthos said he was debating whether to leave and come back later in the day.
A Lehigh engineering student, he said he wasn’t looking forward to the wait and didn’t get to eat before coming out.
Both Xanthos and Bowers said they still were deciding who to vote for while in line.
“Every time I turned a corner there was just another entire block of [the] line. But I have to fulfill my civic duty. I have to vote no matter how long it takes.”Nate Bowers, 19, student at Lehigh University
Bowers said he’s a registered Democrat but still was unsure whether he’d vote for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris or Republican former President Donald Trump.
“I got a long line,” Bowers said. “Maybe I’ll do some research.”
Xanthos said he’s leaning more toward one candidate but declined to share who. He said abortion and the economy are top issues for him.
Sarah Morgan, 19, got in line at 8:50 a.m. She and her roommates were just nearing the front doors at 11:30 a.m.
Morgan, a psychology and global studies major at Lehigh, is originally from Florida but decided to vote in Pennsylvania because of its importance in the presidential election.
“I decided to vote here because I figured it was more important,” she said. “It’s the biggest swing state, so it feels like my vote has a lot more meaning here.”
