Campus Life

Students are encouraged to register to vote during PSU Votes Week

PSU Votes Week activities run from Sept. 23-27. Student volunteers will be available throughout the week to assist with voter registration and to answer questions about voting and elections.  Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State encourages eligible students to be engaged citizens by participating in elections and understanding the issues that affect them today and in the future.

Ahead of the Pennsylvania voter registration deadline, the University Park Undergraduate Association alongside other student organizations and The Center for Character, Conscience, and Public Purpose, a unit of Penn State Student Affairs, is hosting its annual PSU Votes Week from Sept. 23 to 27.

Occurring every year just before the statewide deadline, the mass voter registration effort, seeks to educate students about voting and assist students in registering to vote.

Voting in local, state and national elections is one of the most important duties of an engaged citizen. Students have the option to vote in their hometown or in State College, surrounding townships and Centre County, where they live for most of the year and where many issues have an impact on them while they live here.

Several voter registration events will be held throughout the University Park campus during PSU Votes Week. Student volunteers will be available to assist with voter registration and provide additional information during these events.

  • HUB (ground floor stage), voter registration tables, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday
  • Waring Commons, voter registration tables, 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday
  • National Voter Registration Day Celebration, HUB Lawn, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday (Berkey Creamery ice cream will be served!)
  • Redifer Commons, voter registration tables, 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday

If students wish to vote in the 2019 elections, they are reminded that the voter registration deadline in Pennsylvania is Oct. 7. Students who choose to register to vote at their permanent address, will most likely need to cast an absentee ballot. The deadlines for those ballots vary by state. For comprehensive information on registration, registration status, absentee ballots, locating polling places, voter guides and more, visit Vote411.

To learn more about how and where to vote, your rights as a voter, and other voting information, students can visit the PSU Votes page on Penn State’s Student Affairs website. 

Last Updated September 30, 2019