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Last year, the polling place at 36th and Chestnut was one of the city's quietest on Election Day.
Situated at the northern end of the Penn campus, it is home to two districts -- the 3rd and 11th -- in the ward which registered one of the smallest voter turnouts anywhere in the city in the 2007 mayoral primary.
Of 9,348 registered voters in the 27th ward, only 1,866 cast a ballot last May. That was the fourth-lowest vote total out of the city's 66 wards.
That happened in part because Penn had already let out for the summer when the primary took place, so there weren't many residents around. But the school also has a high percentage of students from outside the city, and local races haven't resonated too much on campus in recent years.
This year's presidential primary, though, is a different story. I stopped by the Penn Center for Rehabilitation and Care just after noon today, and the line to vote was 12 people deep and full of students.
In the 27th division, 105 out of 977 registered voters had cast a ballot as of 12:20 p.m.. In the 3rd division, 102 out of 776 had done so.
An election official for the 27th Division who I talked to said it was among the largest turnouts she'd ever seen at the polling place.
I've been there a few times in recent years and it was the first time I'd ever seen a line of any kind.
So who are they voting for? Both Democratic candidates have pushed hard to win University City. Barack Obama's campaign has a temporary office at 40th and Chestnut Streets, while Hillary Clinton's speech at the Palestra last night drew a large number of Penn students.
Clinton also made reference to the endorsement she won from the Daily Pennsylvanian last week.
The Daily Pennsylvanian reports today that two-thirds of the Penn student body is registered to vote in Pennsylvania.
But in the current freshman class, only 406 of 1,443 students originally hail from the Keystone state. While that only accounts for a quarter of the undergraduate student body, older classes have been here longer -- and therefore might be more likely to be registered here.
A recent poll by CBS News and the Daily Pennsylvanian found that 73 percent of Penn students were for Barack Obama, with 71 percent of students statewide supporting the Illinois senator.
Another important stat: 86 percent of students polled said they were "likely" to vote today.
Pennsylvania's population is well-known to be older than the national average. But could young voters have a significant impact in this year's primary?
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The PA Votes '08 blog brings you up-to-the-minute coverage of the Pennsylvania primary campaign.
It's written by political journalists from the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. Send us your comments -- and news tips -- at this address.
And meet our regular bloggers:
Will Bunch, one of the first mainstream newspaper journalists to blog regularly, writes the blog Attytood. Will, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports.
Angela Couloumbis joined The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1998, and has covered government and politics in New Jersey, Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania, including Gov. Rendell’s 2006 race against former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann.
Dave Davies has covered government and politics in Philadelphia for the past twenty years. He is senior writer for the Philadelphia Daily News, where he has worked since 1990. He
is also a fill-in host for National Public Radio's Fresh Air, and WHYY's Radio Times. He's also worked as a teacher, a cab driver and a welder.
Larry Eichel is the senior writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, covering the 2008 presidential election. He has served as national political writer, a foreign and national correspondent, a political columnist, sportswriter, national editor and suburban editor. He is the co-author of two books and three children.
Thomas Fitzgerald joined The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2000, and has covered Harrisburg as well as city, state and national politics for the newspaper. He was a “boy on the bus” in the 2004 presidential campaign and during primary contests in 2000 and 1996.
Ellen Gray is TV critic for the Daily News. She has been paid to watch television since 1994. She first liveblogged election night media coverage in November of 2000.
Gar Joseph, the Philadelphia Daily News' city editor, has been involved in political coverage for two decades as a reporter and editor. His column, Clout, has twice been named best column in Philadelphia magazine's Best of Philadelphia issue.
Catherine Lucey joined the Philadelphia Daily News in 2002. Since then she has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. For the past two years, she covered the 2007 mayoral election; she now covers the Nutter administration.
Jonathan Storm became The Inquirer's television critic in 1990, after joining the paper in 1982. Previously, he spent six years at the Rutland Herald (Vt.) and six more at the Detroit Free Press. He’s been an avid TV watcher since age 5.
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