Voter info cards cause campus confusion

A recent mailing from the city board of elections has caused significant confusion on campus with regard to where students should cast their votes today.

University students who are registered to vote on campus were mailed cards earlier this month indicating that the only designated student voting locations were the David Rittenhouse Laboratory and the Penn Center for Rehabilitation and Care.

The voter registration division printed the cards before city commissioners added new polling places on Oct. 20, which now include Steinberg-Dietrich Hall, Harrison College House, Harnwell College House and Houston Hall, in addition to the previous two locations.

City officials said they made it clear that the cards were being printed prior to the hearing to change the polling places.

The group of students who created the petition "were told beforehand that we were sending a card and it was already being printed" with the old locations, voter registration administrator Bob Lee said.

"We're not going to delay the printing of 1 million voting cards because students want to change the location of four polling locations," Lee said.

Lee noted that registration information had to be submitted by Oct. 15 for the more than 1 million voting cards that were printed and mailed by the division.

Lee added that the group was warned that extra effort would be needed to make sure Penn students were aware of the new polling locations, should the petition be approved.

"We didn't take the chance that they would do that anyway," Lee said of the division, which sent out letters correcting the cards on Thursday and Friday.

Any voters who registered in a district where polling places recently changed were sent letters indicating where to find their new voting locations.

"I don't know what else could have been done," Lee said.

The Penn College Democrats, who brought the initiative to the city, believe that the additional polling places are worth the confusion.

"I think a lot of people are really happy with the changes," College Democrats Vice President Jessica Smyth said.

Smyth said her group was not concerned about students receiving the wrong information from the voter registration office, as "most students don't know where to vote, anyway," especially incoming freshmen.

"I definitely think that students have had enough time" to be informed of the change," Smyth said. "I think most students know where to vote."

Smyth said the College Democrats, the Penn College Republicans and other non-partisan groups including Penn Leads the Vote have all been working to inform students about their designated polling locations.

Information has been distributed on listservs, posted on University and Daily Pennsylvanian Web sites and printed on flyers that are posted on and off campus.

Smyth said that her group, along with other organizations, will be providing hundreds of volunteers today around University City to direct students to their correct voting locations in the event of confusion.

Students can find out where they are registered to vote at www.hallwatch.org.

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