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Brian Spittler wore an Obama '08 T-shirt, a pin featuring Barack Obama's face and a tiny, white "I voted" sticker Tuesday as he walked across campus at Brigham Young University.
Spittler, a junior studying political science, has been working on the Obama campaign since its early days. Spittler was in Nevada for that state's caucus last month, and Tuesday he and other students across Utah County were pulling out a last-ditch effort to clinch the nomination for their candidates.
"After today, school's going to get its rightful place as the front again," Spittler said.
He said he's been spending about 20 hours a week on the campaign. On Tuesday, he voted, drove friends to polling locations so they could vote and squeezed in a round of door-to-door campaigning before he went to his personal finance class in the afternoon.
Other students working on the Obama campaign helped people find polling locations at a booth at BYU. In the previous weeks they helped 300-400 people register to vote.
BYU junior Hyrum Salmond can't vote because he's not a U.S. citizen, but he's on the Democrats' side and involved nonetheless.
"I think it still affects everything. I still live here," Salmond said.
He doesn't feel voiceless because he's helped so many people register to vote.
Students hoping for a Ron Paul victory helped at a honk-and-wave in Orem on Monday, waving signs on a street corner. David Garber, who has been working on the Paul campaign for months, said supporters put up signs, made phone calls and went from door to door.
Volunteers for Mitt Romney made calls in the Provo call center to states across the map up until Monday. Eli Eyre, a field director for the Romney campaign, said the call center made about 40,000 phone calls between the end of November and Super Tuesday. On Monday alone, they made about 4,000.
He didn't make phone calls, but Spittler knocked on as many doors as he could.
While canvassing, he sparked the interest of a white dog that barked and chased him as he went from condo to condo at Willowbrook Hill Condominiums in Provo. Spittler found that a lot of people hadn't updated their voter registration records, so a Democrat that once inhabited a certain apartment might have moved and been replaced with a Romney, Paul or John McCain supporter.
"I think Obama's a little bit too far left for me, but at least he tells you that," Tony Rahlf told Spittler when he knocked on the door.
"I'm glad to know that you are involved and voting," Spittler replied.
Later, Spittler told another Republican to go to the polls.
"Get out and vote. That's the most important thing," Spittler said.
Students for Ron Paul planned to have a victory party no matter what happened Tuesday. Students working for Romney were headed to a party in Provo or at the Romney call center in Sandy to meet Romney's son Josh.
• Brittani Lusk can be reached at 344-2549 or at
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