LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — As voters turned out to the polls on North Keyser Avenue in Scranton, long lines were not what was holding up the line but instead a paper jam.
"The voting machine wasn't working. It wasn't taking the ballots, so I didn't want any trouble with anything. So I figured, got to come back over," said Sharon Smith, West Scranton.
The judge of elections says the jam was fixed by the county in about a half hour, and it's been smooth sailing since.
This is Sharon Smith's second time showing up to the polling place this Election Day.
An inconvenience, she says, is worth it to ensure her vote is counted, "They said they were going to insert them manually and take off it that way. We're like, no, we'd rather, 'cause we don't want no problems with the voting and the way that I had gone four years ago."
While others showed up to vote for the very first time, it's estimated that more than 8 million Gen-Z voters are eligible to vote for the first time in this election. Samson Repshis of Scranton is one of them, "It's a very important one. I don't want to say there's a lot of stakes at it because I don't know, but it seems to have a lot of effect on people now."
That large number of first-time voters means political campaigns targeted Gen-Z voters hard.
Emary Guzman says she feels that pressure, "It's not even empowered, as more pushed around. It's like I can't even go on TikTok. Normally I just scroll tik tok in that absent minded brain wrap moment. I'm like, 'Oh my god,' it's so much political stuff going on here."
While Gen-Z has been the focus of both sides, these young people say they really don't relate to either side, and that may hinder Gen-Z's turnout.
"I think moving forward, we will. So, since this is our first vote and a lot of us don't know what to do because we don't align with either of them, we're kind of just sitting it out