After around 20 seconds behind the curtain, Penn President Amy Gutmann stepped out of the Vance Hall booth on Tuesday evening to claps and cheers from a small following of students and staff members.
“I want this to show how seriously we take our right to vote,” Gutmann said after collecting her "I Voted" sticker. “The implications are very, very clear; young people’s voices need to be heard.”
On Nov. 6, Penn saw record-breaking turnout at the polls, and both Gutmann and Provost Wendell Pritchett casted their votes.
Gutmann, who is registered to vote on campus, visited Vance Hall at around 5:20 p.m., greeting students before heading over to the booths.
Pritchett said he "snuck out" during lunch to head to 21st and Walnut streets to cast his vote at the polling station near his home.
“It was very efficient because there were very few people in the middle of the day,” he said.
Pritchett revealed that he voted along Democratic lines, joking that his preference could be readily derived from his resume.
In 2007, Pritchett served in former President Barack Obama’s campaign as the Co-Chair of the Urban Policy Task Force. The Federal Election Commission's records show Pritchett has donated to campaigns of Democratic candidates, including former President Barack Obama and Representative and Penn alumnus Conor Lamb (D-Pa.).
Clad in a gray suit, he added that the sporadic showers did not temper his enthusiasm to vote because he was "used to voting in the rain."
Provost Wendell Pritchett also donned a gray Penn Leads the Vote t-shirts and posed for pictures with students.
Gutmann exited the building before heading to Harnwell College House to join Pritchett at the Penn Leads the Vote Election Day Party in the rooftop lounge.
Both Pritchett and Gutmann donned gray Penn Leads the Vote t-shirts at the party to pose for pictures with students.
Gutmann urged students who had yet to vote to do so before the polls close for the day.
For his part, Pritchett said he would be heading home to watch the midterm results with his wife — a tradition for the couple.
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