Psychology sophomore Jake Linesch, who said he voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, similarly cited fear as a motivating factor. Linesch brought up the contents of Project 2025, a roadmap for a future Republican presidency created by conservative Heritage Foundation, as a factor in his decision. 

"It’s more of a 'not (my) rights getting taken away' type of thing," Linesch said.

Throughout the campaign, Democrats have pointed to Project 2025’s aggressive stance on immigration, climate change and access to abortion services as indicative of what Trump would try to do once elected. In response, Trump and other Republicans have moved to distance themselves from the document and its authors.

Criminal justice junior Cameron Hunter said he’s been set on voting for Trump since Joe Biden took office in 2020. Hunter said increased illegal immigration under the Biden-Harris administration and the U.S.’s involvement in conflicts overseas, such as in Ukraine and Gaza, solidified his choice.

"She’s been in office for the past four years and hasn’t done anything beneficial," Hunter said. "Trump was in office for four years, people call him Hitler and all that stuff, but everything he’s done has benefitted America."

Psychology freshman Sunny Bikki said that although she doesn’t like either candidate, she decided to vote for Trump because his platform is more in line with her values, informed by her conservative upbringing.

"It’s so hard to tell," Bikki said when asked how confident she is that Trump will ultimately win. "I think there’s equal people on both sides, and it’s hard to tell, but that also makes it kind of thrilling to see what happens."

While students are most likely to be aware of the tightly contested presidential election, voters in East Lansing are also being asked to weigh in on contests for one of Michigan’s seats in the U.S. Senate and for Michigan’s 7th congressional district in the U.S. House. Students can also vote for two members of MSU’s Board of Trustees, among other state and local races.

However, rather than doing in-depth research on each candidate, most students said they voted along party lines and let their vote for the White House guide the rest of their decisions.

With every passing hour, students have managed a delicate balance of anxiety and optimism. Going into election day, polls have continued to indicate that Harris and Trump remain in a tight race, particularly in Michigan. Additionally, it’s possible that the outcome of the race may be unknown until Wednesday or even later.

Remembering how he felt on election night in 2016, when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in what was understood to be a major upset, Linesch said he’s confident that "we won’t make that same mistake again."

Hunter said he would be watching returns from Michigan throughout the night in case there are any irregularities. 

"I remember the last election, and how we saw a big number of Democrat votes come in right at one time," Hunter said. "I thought that was odd, so I’m going to be looking tonight to make sure that doesn’t happen again."

In 2020, Republican’s early advantages in state like Michigan were greatly reduced overnight in a "blue shift," which Trump and his allies pointed to as proof of rampant voter fraud. However, that phenomenon was actually the result of rural, Republican-leaning counties reporting their results faster than urban, Democratic-leaning counties. 

Citing MSU’s liberal-leaning student body, Bikki said she wouldn’t be surprised if there is some level of unrest following the election, particularly if Trump is declared the winner.

Political theory and constitutional democracy freshman Jacob Silverman said that, although he cast his ballot in his home state of Illinois, he’d be closely watching election results throughout the night. Voting in every election is important, Silverman said, but this year feels like "the most important election of our lifetime."

"I’m a little anxious," Silverman. "Hoping for the best."