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Centre County Elections Board Says Satellite Office For Penn Staters Currently Not Possible

File image: Penn State students lined up outside Heritage Hall inside of the HUB-Robeson Center, waiting to cast their votes in November's midterm elections.
Min Xian
/
WPSU

The Centre County Board of Elections says it cannot create a “Satellite Elections Office” in the HUB-Robeson Center on Penn State’s campus this month.

The Centre County League of Women Voters along with Penn State’s Vice President for Student Affairs and student government leaders, had signed a letter to the Board of Elections supporting the office.

The primary and a special election to fill the 12th district U.S. House seat are on May 21. The Many Penn State students will be gone by then. Supporters of the satellite office said it would allow students to get an absentee ballot and vote.

But, the Elections Board said the state’s SURE system — Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors — that is used to verify the information on absentee ballot applications is not portable. The Department of State’s  system is secure and only accessible through the elections office.

Acting Elections Board member Mary Vollero said they are writing the Department of State to find out what it would take to make a system that is both mobile and secure. She said they're also hoping to find ways to make absentee voting easier for students.

Marc Friedenberg, the Democratic candidate for the 12th district seat, said in a statement that he was disappointed and the decision will “disenfranchise thousands of voters.”

Friedenberg will face Republican Fred Keller in the election.

Anne Danahy has been a reporter at WPSU since fall 2017. Before crossing over to radio, she was a reporter at the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania, and she worked in communications at Penn State. She is married with cats.
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