Student leaders across the University are helping Penn lead the vote.
Penn Leads the Vote - a nonpartisan group that aims to increase voter participation - wants student leaders to "take on voter registration and civic engagement as their own task," PLTV President and College senior Stephanie Simon said.
Telling someone to register "means a lot more when it comes from a peer or a friend," she added.
The group will also be working with student leaders on election day -by calling students who haven't voted yet, according to Undergraduate Assembly chairman and College and Wharton senior Wilson Tong.
"Student leaders can definitely play a big role in making sure students vote," said Tong, who is "really excited to engage UA Steering in Penn Leads the Vote efforts."
In addition to working with student leaders, PLTV is putting registration forms in the mailboxes of all on-campus residents and will place collection boxes for completed forms across campus, according to Simon.
The group also has a table on Locust Walk, where people can register and get information about voting.
Spreading accurate information about voting is part of Penn Leads the Vote's job, said Simon, who added that, "we have encountered lots of people who don't know how to vote."
To deal with this problem, the group has information available on its Web site and includes informational flyers with the registration forms it puts in College House mailboxes. The group does not keep track of the number of students it helps register.
Simon recommends voting on campus unless there is a local election that students are passionate about because it is easier than filling out an absentee ballot, and Pennsylvania is a swing state.
"It is more empowering to vote in person," she added.
Partnering with student leaders to encourage voting should be effective "if the groups are diverse," said Peter Levine, a research director at Tufts University and the director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
The "biggest challenge," he said, would be reaching students who are not involved in student groups because "membership and voting corollate."
"It is important to reach out to non-political groups," he added.
Levine also said placing voter-registration forms and registration information in students' mailboxes was a good idea.
