In less than two weeks, a light touch on a voting machine may be all it takes to send a friend or classmate into elected office in Philadelphia.
A handful of Penn graduate and undergraduate students are running for judge of elections and inspector of elections. The vote is Nov. 8.
Penn's campus is located in the 27th Ward of Philadelphia, and students are running in a number of divisions in the ward.
The positions that students are running for do not carry any decision-making power. Rather, the four-year posts involve checking voters for identification and managing the poll stations on election day.
Regardless, a commitment to local parties has moved several students to run.
Wharton senior Jared Katseff -- who is running for inspector of elections in the sixth division -- said the Penn College Democrats have been trying to increase their presence in the ward by electing members as judge of elections and inspector of elections.
"They encouraged our members in every division to run," Katseff said.
Since Katseff is running unopposed, he said a November win is essentially secured.
Wharton senior Cory Bray -- chairman of the Penn College Republicans -- was appointed to be judge of elections for the eighth division in April of last year.
He is running for the position for the first time this November.
Bray said he was inspired to pursue the position after noticing that the people who previously worked at his poll station were not students.
"The people that were previously working the polls in my division ... were all residents of North Philadelphia who took the trolley down for the day because they were friends with the Democratic ward leader," Bray said. "The people who are supposed to be working there should be living in the division."
Bray said that the College Republicans have been working to increase their presence within the ward for years.
Matthew Wolfe, the Republican ward leader for the 27th division, agreed that this has been a long-term aim for his party and added that he has recently stepped up efforts to recruit students.
"What tended to happen for years [is] ... we would find people who did not live in the divisions to take off work for the day and come out and work the polls."
As a result, Wolfe said, "We made it a priority to recruit students who we think are competent. I think it has been a positive force for change within the ward."
Experts have also noticed a trend toward increased student involvement.
Dawn Maglicco, associate director of city and commonwealth relations at Penn, said that a strong interest in running for local positions has not always been present at Penn.
Maglicco attributes this sudden drive to the relocation of polling locations to on-campus sites.
"I think it has not been so popular on Penn's campus for the past few years, at least in my experience, because the poll locations weren't located in the residences or accessible places on campus, and some ward leaders weren't engaged with the students as much," Maglicco said.
Fifth-year Physics graduate student Don Engel, who is running for judge of elections in the 20th division, said that judge of elections and inspector of elections are often difficult positions to fill because students do not often live in the area for four consecutive years.
If someone in one of these positions resigns, the ward leader will appoint another person of the same political party to finish out the term.
"A lot of these students who are running won't be able to fill out their term; nobody could," Engel said. "But they are running so that their party can hold the seat for the next four years."
But for some students, like College junior Ezra Billinkoff -- who is running for judge of elections -- the thrill of political involvement is the only motivator necessary.
"I'm really excited to be involved on Election Day 2006, to be meeting voters, to be helping people who have never voted before," Billinkoff said. "It will be the first election for a lot of people, and that should not be sold short."
