Students took to Locust Walk Tuesday to encourage their peers to register to vote before the deadline in Pennsylvania expired.
Credit: Manon VolandFrom the Compass to Van Pelt Library, campus on Tuesday was a frenzy of student groups urging students to register on the last day before the Oct. 11 voter registration deadline.
Volunteers, ranging from nonpartisan groups such as Penn Leads the Vote to issue advocates like NextGen Climate, flooded Locust Walk with flyers, tables and ballot applications. That’s to say nothing of the nearly eight-foot-tall painted posters of women, with “vote” plastered across their foreheads, placed by members of the collective, We Are Watching.
The group staffed a table outside Van Pelt throughout the morning and afternoon, handing out voter registration sheets alongside volunteers from NextGen Climate, a political advocacy group that is focused on climate change issues and opposed to Republican nominee Donald Trump.
“Though we are not endorsing any candidates, we have a few voter registration forms,” said College senior Syra Ortiz-Blanes, one of the group’s co-founders. “We are against Donald Trump for his misogyny.”
In front of the Penn Colonial Center, volunteers from Penn Leads the Vote, a nonpartisan voter mobilization group run out of the Fox Leadership Center, said they registered close to 400 members of the Penn community since the beginning of the semester, including close to 100 on Tuesday.
“There was definitely a last second rush,” said College junior Daniel Lilling, one of the PLTV staffing the table. “People finally came around.”
Pennsylvania has one of the earliest voter registration deadlines in the country, along with 13 other states who demand voters register 30 days before Election Day.
The Clinton campaign has worked to register voters since at least New Student Orientation, when incoming freshmen were greeted with queries from volunteers asking them to switch their voter registration to Pennsylvania, a perennial swing state.
On their Facebook page, Penn for Hillary posted, “We all know how high the stakes in this election are - we can elect a horrifying bigot with no knowledge of anything necessary to be president, or we can elect the most qualified person to run for the presidency.”
Staff Reporter Carl-Emmanuel Fulghieri contributed reporting.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
DonatePlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.