"They were definitely encouraging me forcefully to go out and vote," he said of his family.

A lot of young people became engaged with this election and made a difference in this election, Gayle said.

"If any candidate is able to get a lot of young people to the polls, they'll have a lot of sway," he said.

The Obama campaign did a good job of getting young people to the polls, said Chris Applegate, a 21-year-old geography student wearing an Obama T-shirt and a Rice sticker. Obama supports issues that are important to young people, Applegate said, like helping the Darfur region of Sudan and coming up with solutions to slow climate change.

"I think we'll see by the end of the night that the youth have made an impact," he said. And Applegate said political candidates need to learn a lesson from this election.

"They need to listen to us more," he said. "... If they don't listen, they won't be in office anymore."

Julianna Parker 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com