The four teenagers were giddy. As they walked out of the Columbus State University Cunningham Center, they were laughing and joking. It was a party.
Asked how they voted in the presidential election, ToWanna Tate, 19, spoke for the group.
"Barack," she said, almost singing the name.
Her friends Phillipe Foreman, Francine DeBeneditto and Kanisha Jones -- all 19 and voting for the first time -- echoed the sentiment.
"It is so exciting that we can make change," said Foreman, who works at the Fort Benning commissary. "We will be able to tell our kids we were part of change."
Inside the Cunningham Center, Theresa MacDonald, 36, stood in line for more than an hour and a half with her 10-month old daughter Avery. She was determined to get her vote cast before Tuesday, when the lines promise to swell and the wait increase.
"I sense extreme passion about how people feel about Obama and McCain," she said. "It is very obvious who people are rooting for in this town."
The self-described "military brat" said she was casting her presidential vote for John McCain.
Those five people illustrate what is happening in Columbus and throughout the country as a historic election nears. There are 118,283 people registered to vote in Muscogee County and 38,075 have voted early, said Nancy Boren, executive director of the Muscogee County Office of Elections and Registrations.
What is happening in advance voting and promises to continue through late Tuesday night is one for the history books, and it isn't lost on people who have seen many elections.
Read the complete story at ledger-enquirer.com