On Tuesday, February 11, the Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) and Gould Library facilitated a Voter Registration event for Carleton students. The event was put on to encourage out-of-state students to register to vote in Minnesota in the upcoming primary elections.
CCCE Peace and Conflict Fellows Sophie Rogers ’21, Jelilat Odubayo ’21 and Win Wen Ooi ’22 worked with Katie Lewis, the Cataloging and Government Documents Librarian, to put on the event.
Lewis commented that although the Library had not hosted a Voter Registration before, “the Library staff were very positive about the idea.”
She added, “Hannah Klein, the publicity and outreach assistant at the Library, designed an awesome digital sign to help promote the event.” To prepare for the event, Lewis also spoke with the Elections Director for Rice County to ensure that they were meeting the deadline for online registration for the Primary.
Reflecting on the event, Rogers ’21 said that “tons of people stopped by” and that “many seemed interested and lots had already registered or re-registered.” By the end of the event, about a dozen people were newly registered.
Lewis also commented, “Some students mentioned that registering online was not easy to figure out on the State of Minnesota website. If you live on campus, you have to first enter zero for your address number, and then select the name of your dorm building from the list of street names. So it’s a different address than what people are used to using.”
Even though the pre-registration deadline has now passed, students can still register to vote in Minnesota on Election Day. Rogers explained, “If you are a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old on Election Day, have been a resident of Minnesota for 20 days and have finished all parts of any felony sentence you can register on the same day, using your OneCard.”
Rogers also noted, “If you live in any of the residence halls, townhouses, Faculty Club or most campus-owned housing, then you vote in Ward 1, Precinct 1 (W1-P1). Your polling site is at the First United Church of Christ (300 Union St), next to the Weitz Center.”
In the future, Lewis commented that the Library is “very open to the possibility of hosting a Voter Registration at the Library again.”
