Minutes ago, thousands of Philadelphians gathered at City Hall in celebration of Obama’s win brought out the confetti.

Moments before, they chanted “Move Bush, get out the way.” Earlier, the crowd — which seems to be primarily made up of Penn students — chanted “Yes, he did.”

83 percent of voters in Philadelphia County voted for Barack Obama yesterday. And they have taken to the streets in celebration. Strangers are hugging and giving high fives. It’s all about the brotherly love in Philadelphia and among Penn students tonight.

Forty minutes after Pa. polls closed, CNN and Fox News now join MSNBC and ABC News in calling Pennsylvania for Obama.

Minutes after the polls closed in Pennsylvania, MSNBC and ABC News called the state for Senator Obama.

CNN and Fox News say the state is still too close to call.

Some networks are planning on announcing the winner of the presidential election as early as 9 p.m. EST — two hours before polls close on the west coast.

Based on agreements made by the networks that are within the consortium that conducts exit polling, networks cannot announce winners for individual states before the state’s polls close, according to the Chicago Tribune. But they can announce the national winner before all polls close.

But if the 2000 election taught us anything about elections, it is that announcing results too early may have an effect on voter turnout. In Florida, networks began calling the state for then-Vice President Al Gore before all polls in the state had closed. Gore supporters have since said that this caused many to stay home, believing the election had already gone in their favor. 

According to the Tribune, a similar situation could occur this year: “Such an announcement will lead to some potential voters leaving the polls before they cast their ballots and others to not come at all.”

According to AJ Schiera, a member of the executive board of Penn Leads the Vote, at least 90 percent of registered undergraduates at four of the on-campus divisions had voted as of about 7 p.m. This was announced in Penn Leads the Vote War Room.

Those divisions are Houston Hall, Steinberg Dietrich, Harnwell College House and Harrison College House. At Houston Hall alone, 1,010 people had voted by 7 p.m, six of which were provisional ballots.

This number is about 25 percent higher than total turnout for the 2004 election at that station.

In a recent poll of Penn undergraduates conducted from Oct. 6 to Oct. 19 by CBS News/Chronicle of Higher Education/UWire/The Daily Pennsylvanian, 94 percent of the 839 respondents were registered to vote. 

According to Penn Leads the Vote, approximately 58 percent of undergraduates at Penn are registered to vote on and around campus.

Raw data for turnout on and around Penn from 2000 to the 2008 primary is available here.