Many Penn State students will leave campus just weeks before the municipal primary and 12th district U.S. House special election on May 21.
If they’re registered in Centre County, they’ll have to vote absentee if they vote at all.
“The absentee process is cumbersome. As a student said to me, ‘I don’t even know where the post office is,’” said Laura Brown, a Centre County League of Women Voters member.
Brown said her group is hoping to streamline that process by getting the Board of Elections to open a “Satellite Elections Office” at the HUB on campus from April 23-26.
She said the office would provide a one-stop shop for students to complete their request for an absentee ballot, immediately get the ballot, fill it out and submit it.
“Students who vote are probably going to vote the rest of their lives, so engaging students while they’re at the university is really important,” Brown said.
The League, along with Penn State’s Vice President for Student Affairs and student government leaders, signed a letter to the Board of Elections supporting the office’s creation.
The plan awaits approval from the Board, which says the proposal is under review and will likely be voted on next week.
