There have been claims that some polling places were not open during election hours.

The polling places in the Student Recreation Center and the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union were not covered around 11:30 Monday morning.

Students wishing to vote had to vote at polling places in Coleman Hall or Carman Hall.

The Student Senate has a sign-up sheet for students interested in managing the polling places.

There was no one signed up, however, between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and between 3 to 4 p.m. at the rec.

Junior art major Sandra Velazquez was five minutes late to begin her shift, so there may have been somebody to cover the 3 to 4 p.m. shift.

All the ballots and the rosters were left unattended when she arrived.

People were sitting at the table earlier though, she said.

“They (election workers) could have left because I was five minutes late,” Velazquez said.

Chad Quinones, graduate assistant in charge of elections, said the students who were working the election at the time might have left for class.

Polling places are supposed to be open on Monday and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

At the Carman polling place, the polling place was not ready to open Monday morning, according to Cole Rogers, student vice president for academic affairs, when he arrived around 9 a.m.

“Nobody was there to open it so I just opened it,” Rogers said.

It is unknown why there was no worker at the polling place.

“I don’t know, the first person might not have showed up on time,” Quinones said.

Calls to Ashlei Birch, student executive director of elections, were not immediately returned.

The turnout for the election has been mostly light.

In the Union where Rogers was working was only getting light turnout.

Since the races are lightly contested, the turnout has been small, Rogers said.

In the rec, there had been only one voter since she arrived, Velazquez said.