Despite pushback from some community members, Centre County’s board of elections is moving forward with creating a satellite elections office on the Penn State University Park campus.
The office, which will go in the Hammond Building on East College Avenue, could help students and community members register to vote or apply for mail-in or absentee ballots.
Centre County commissioners and elections officials debated Friday in a crowded room, where several community members stood. Others stood out in the hallway, and some sat in another conference room to watch the meeting on Zoom.
Some spoke in favor of the satellite elections office on campus, including Vicki Fong.
“This is not a new initiative. It's been successful," Fong said. "I believe in 2020 it came together rather rapidly, but now we have a format that we can easily build on and a platform.”
Fong is a former elections board member and current poll worker at the HUB-Robeson Center on campus.
Sen. Cris Dush, who represents the 25th district including Penn State, spoke against the satellite office at Friday’s meeting.
“I'd be surprised if you could find five students on campus that don't have the ability to electronically register or electronically search for how to register, how to get a mail in ballot, [or] who don't have access to about a dozen student organizations on that campus that can help them do that," Dush said.
Dush is also the prime sponsor of a bill in the state Senate to eliminate ballot drop boxes and satellite offices.
Dush, along with several other speakers, asked why the board of elections isn’t setting up a satellite office to support rural voters without internet access.
Felicia Dionisio-Hetzman questioned why this decision is being made so late, and said the office would better serve rural voters who don’t have computer access.
“I wonder if the governor, Josh Shapiro, has put the word down that maybe Kamala is behind in the polls and we need to boost some Democrat votes, and we need to maybe shoot some fish in a barrel on the Penn State campus," Dionisio-Hetzman said.
Commissioners and elections officials did not respond to that claim, but did agree a satellite office would help rural voters. Commissioners also approved elections assistance for senior centers in Bellefonte, Centre Hall, State College, Madisonburg, Philipsburg and Snow Shoe. That assistance will involve handing out voter registration forms and absentee or mail-in ballot requests.
After about an hour and a half of public comment, commissioners voted 2-to-1 to move forward with the satellite office on campus.
Republican Commissioner Steve Dershem was the only vote against.
"This is the eleventh hour. This is the end of September, and we have a lot of things going on in the elections office and a lot of moving parts," Dershem said. "And this is adding a lot more moving parts and security concerns to the conversation."
Dershem said this decision to add a satellite elections office is happening too late in the election cycle, and said "a lot of things can probably [or] may go wrong."
The other two commissioners, both Democrats, said many Penn State students are first time voters who need help navigating the voting process.
Democratic Commissioner Mark Higgins said he'd like to expand satellite elections offices to more parts of the county in the future.
"But I think at this point, this would probably be the lift we could do and then look for something broader, maybe in 2025," Higgins said.
Commissioners did not say when the satellite elections office will open on campus.
