Poll workers had their work cut out for them Tuesday as a record number of student voters braced the cold and headed to the polls to cast their vote for the 2008 presidential primary.

In wards where University of Wisconsin students voted alone, 14,523 ballots were cast, compared to 8,653 ballots in the 2004 presidential primary.

Long lines were no obstacle for students voting at Memorial Library, according to Ann Waidelich, chief inspector for Ward 46.

?It was a zoo all afternoon and evening; we had as many as eight people registering people during the day plus the poll workers doing the other jobs,? she said. ?There were absolutely more than I?ve seen in the past. We voted 1,333 people; of that, 1,100 registered yesterday.?

Dane County Clerk Robert Ohlsen said Wednesday 52 percent of Dane County voters went to the polls, casting 166,001 ballots out of 320,000 registered voters.

?Madison students turned out in higher numbers than the rest of Dane County at large,? said City Council President Mike Verveer, District 4. ?Student turnout was awesome and impressive on all counts.?

According to the Dane County Clerk?s results, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., received significantly more votes than Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in every Madison ward. The votes between Republican Sen. John McCain and former governor Mike Huckabee were similar across Madison wards.

In the end, Obama was Dane County?s and Wisconsin?s Democratic winner with 67.49 percent of Dane County votes. McCain was Dane County?s and the state?s Republican winner with 56.15 percent of Dane County votes.

College Democrats Chair Oliver Kiefer said he attributes the massive student turnout to UW, adding administrators ?have been really great in encouraging civic participation.?

The new, young faces at Madison wards were exciting for poll worker volunteers who said they have been working the polls for more than 10 years.

Though tired, Matt Zimmerman, Ward 40 chief inspector, said seeing new voters get a chance to vote in a very clear and consistent way is what has kept him coming back for the last 11 years.

The massive number of student votes gave poll workers hope for an equally strong turnout in the general elections this November.

?I expect a very large turnout in November; the problem will be all those students will need to register again since many of them will have moved,? Waidelich said.

According to Waidelich, voting went smoothly except for the number of students who registered at the polls.

?I loved the students since many of them are voting for the first time, I really do like it, but I really wish ? that the student organizations would get them to register ahead of time,? she said.