Long lines reported near Philly-area colleges, prompting hours-long waits and a visit from Paul Rudd

Voters at polling places near Philadelphia-area college campuses reported waiting in line for more than two hours Tuesday, prompting elections observers to seek extended hours and even drawing actor Paul Rudd to hand out water to people in line.

Turnout at precincts on and near college campuses was expected to rise compared to 2020, when many students were not living on campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

But lines at polling places near several campuses stretched far beyond what was typical at other voting locations in the region, with some voters reporting waiting for two hours or more. At one polling place near Lehigh University in Bethlehem, some said they waited as long as seven hours.

“It was brutal,” said Brendan Xanthos, 19, a Lehigh engineering student. “But I feel like it was necessary... I’ve been waiting to do this since I was a kid, so as long as my vote matters, that’s all I cared about.”

And at a precinct near Villanova’s campus in Delaware County, more than 200 people were lined up outside at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday. Many of them were college students waiting more than 90 minutes to vote.

The ACLU unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit Tuesday evening asking a judge to extend voting for two hours, until 10 p.m., at the Villanova location, saying the county did not provide adequate support. According to the filing, only three machines were provided to cover two voting divisions. A judge denied their request.

“The counties know from history that students come out for presidential elections, and they should have been better prepared,” Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a statement.

Jim Allen, the Delaware County director of elections, said the county sent more resources to the Villanova polling places midday. The slowdown, he said, was caused in part by newly registered voters who had issues — like a missing apartment number — in their registration applications.

While these issues can be fixed at the polling place and was not the majority of voters, Allen said, it slows down the process for everyone.

”In most neighborhoods, you don’t have many young people registering for the first time in that jurisdiction,” Allen said. “Except for on campuses, then you’re going to run into this.”

Students were passing the time. Some threw Frisbees and ate Mexican food and pizza on the curb as Miley Cyrus’ “7 Things” blasted out of a large speaker and a news helicopter hovered overhead.

Rudd, a New Jersey native best known for his roles in I Love You, Man and the Ant-Man franchise, visited both Villanova and Temple. He declined to speak to a reporter in North Philadelphia, but told MSNBC that he was there to pass out water and encourage voters to stay in line.

“It’s a wonderful thing that all these young people are out voting,” Rudd said. “We’ve been doing lots of stuff today here in Pennsylvania. We wanted to come out and tell these students they’re doing really great things.”

Emily Prus, 19, a Villanova freshman, waited in line for two hours. She said she was willing to wait to “vote blue.”

“People keep talking about how important Pennsylvania is. It feels like we’re the main character of this election,” she said. Prus also got a selfie with Rudd when he stopped by to hand out water and snacks.

“This water,” she added, “is from Paul Rudd.”

At the back of the line was Connor Redman, 21, a computer engineering major, who was hunkering down for a possible two-and-a-half hour wait because the stakes of the election were so high.

“I’m going to find some work to do and settle in,” said Redman, who declined to say who he was voting for, but planned to split his ticket. Redman said the economy is his top issue, and he plans to cast a vote to “fix our country.”

» READ MORE: Philly voter turnout was high through the morning, Democrats say: ‘Lines everywhere I went’

At Lehigh University, a college campus in Bethlehem about 60 miles north of Philadelphia, students were also waiting long lines. At 5:40 p.m., Baylee Baker, 18, said she had been in line for a half hour and was settling in for a long wait.

“I have friends who got here at 12,” she said. “The line wrapped around the building.”

She said she was committed to staying in line as long as it takes, encouraged by appearances from Paul Rudd and Jonathan Groff, abundant pizza and water, and what she felt was a critical election.

”If Trump gets voted in, I fear for America and for my future in America,” she said.

Machie Madden, 54, volunteered to drive college students from Lehigh’s campus in Bethlehem to their polling location at the Banana Factory Arts Center, as part of a get-out-the-vote effort by the Lehigh Democrats. Her son is enrolled at the school, and she dropped him off at the polling place at around 10:15 a.m.

At the time, there was a line wrapping “around and around the building,” she said in a phone interview. He was not able to vote for six hours.

At Bright Hope Baptist Church near Temple University, the line of voters at about 4:30 p.m. curled down North 12th Street to Cecil B. Moore Avenue.

Kishi Deji-Roberts, 18, a freshman at Temple, said she stood in line at the church for over two hours. Deji-Roberts said she voted for Vice President Kamala Harris because, as a daughter of immigrants, she was turned off by former President Donald Trump’s promise to initiate a mass deportation program.

”I would not want that to happen to them,” she said of her parents.

Inquirer staff writers Ariana Perez-Castells and Zoe Greenberg contributed to this article.