Tuesday’s election buzz generated several election celebrations and promotions across the country — even before news organizations released preliminary results. Several big-name businesses such as Ben & Jerry’s, Starbucks and Krispy Kreme held promotions Tuesday that rewarded those who voted, or those who happened to stop by on Election Day.

These businesses gave away free scoops of ice cream, cups of coffee or doughnuts.

But one company, Starbucks, gave them away in violation of a federal law that states: “Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate,” and “whoever solicits, accepts or receives any such expenditure in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote,” will be

fined or imprisoned.

So the business had a change of plan.

Starbucks Coffee officials decided to give a tall cup of coffee to anyone who requested one, instead of just voters, according to an MSNBC report.

The shop in Cameron Village offered coffee to those who said they had voted either during the early voting process or on Election Day.

The shift supervisor working during the promotion, who asked her name not be printed, said employees used a “just say yes” approach to handing out their coffee, meaning that a customer was given a free coffee if they said they had voted.

“There was a much higher turnout than expected,” the shift supervisor said. “Thousands came out today.”

The supervisor said it was the most chaotic day she has seen in her two years at Starbucks, adding that anyone who walked in could feel the energy in the air and the excitement about the election.

“There was a lot of conversation from people waiting in line about the election,” the shift supervisor said. Ben & Jerry’s offered a free scoop of ice cream to anyone who came in between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Hillsborough Street store manager Betty Adorno said employees gave scoops out to about a thousand people in just those three hours, a number that he said made it a successful day.

Adorno also said that there was a lot of excitement and buzz about the upcoming election as it was the topic of many conversations.

“There were some debates going on among the customers,” Adorno said. “A lot of people came in wearing voting stickers.”

Features Editor Alison Harman contributed to this report.