“I was so excited,” Yowell said. “But then they took our cellphones and I was, like, ‘But I can’t call and tell anyone?'”

“We had to turn our cellphones in to them before we went in,” Nelson said. “We all handed them over.”

All the attendees who spoke with Business Insider said they didn’t mind being asked to turn over their cellphones before meeting with Clinton as it allowed for privacy.

“I think they didn’t want us saying, you know, emailing our friends while were there,” Nelson said. “That place would have been mobbed.”