Early voting in HPER to take place today

People who can’t wait the last three weeks until Election Day can vote early on campus today through Thursday.

Voters registered in Monroe County can fill out in-person absentee ballots between 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. at racquetball room 12 in the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation.

This will be the first time a satellite voting location will be on campus for a general election, said Rachel McCarty, absentee supervisor for Monroe County.

All students need to vote is a government-issued ID, which includes an IU student ID, passport or driver’s license. The entrance will be at the west end of HPER near the IU Art Museum, said Emily Ward, a director for HPER.

McCarty said students should expect the process to take about 10 to 15 minutes.
McCarty said one reason the campus was chosen is because of the large number of
registered students.

President of IU Students for Barack Obama Rose Byrne said the group worked hard to get a location on campus. For IU Democrats, early voting is a chance to begin getting the thousands of voters they registered to the polls.

“You can register 11,000 people,” Byrne said, “but if they don’t vote, it doesn’t mean anything.”

She encouraged students to vote early so they don’t worry about it on Nov. 4.

Justin Hill, chairman of Students for John McCain, said members of that group will be with local Republican candidates talking to students outside HPER.

IU Democrats will be “blitzing” campus the next two days to get students to vote early, Byrne said. They will also shuttle students and organize group marches downtown for absentee voting in the weeks before the deadline.

People can vote in person any weekday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Oct. 27 in the Curry Building downtown.

McCarty said so far about 4,000 people have voted early, and she expects that number to keep climbing.