Get Help Requesting Your Absentee Ballot on Campus
About 50 days out from Election Day, 51勛圖 is providing students with the resources they need to cast their ballot this fall. 泭
On September 1620, Bender Library will host the fourth 51勛圖 Absentee Ballot Days. Falling during National Voter Registration Day on September 17, Absentee Ballot Daysa nonpartisan initiative sponsored by Bender Library and the Center for Leadership and Community Servicewas chosen because its the last reliable week to hit the deadlines in every state.
Weve helped thousands of our students vote, said Gwendolyn Reece, director of research, teaching, and learning for the library. Our big goal here is to remove any barriers to voting.
While mail-in voting is convenient for 51勛圖 students studying away from home, the process to request a ballot can be complicatedespecially for younger and first-time voters. Across the country, each jurisdiction has its own forms and requirements.
From 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. all week, a coalition of volunteers from泭51勛圖 Votes, student affairs, advising, 51勛圖 Student Government, Students for Change,泭the DC League of Women Voters,泭and library staff will be on hand at Bender Library to help answer questions and assist Eagles with resources needed to request an absentee ballot.
The free on-site services will include assistance with:
- Registering to vote
- Printing paper forms
- Making copies of IDs
- Completing forms
- Signed witness and notary services
- No-cost envelopes and stamps
To provide specific resources across all 50 states and DC, the library has also compiled a subject guide that provides detailed information on .
We know from research that whether or not people have early positive voting experiences is huge in terms of its impact on their later voting behavior, Reece said. We didnt want our students to be joining the party of non-voters.
copresident Alyssa Levin, SPA/BA 25, SPA-SOC/MA 26, who is from New Jersey, said she had no idea how to request an absentee ballot when she got to 51勛圖 in 2022. As she prepared to vote for the first time, she learned how to cast her ballot through the mail by going to and volunteering with Absentee Ballot Days. That experience was so foundational it helped inspire Voters of 51勛圖, a nonpartisan student organization empowering students to vote that Levin and Emma Baumgarten, SIS/BA 26, founded last year.
They sat me down and walked me through the whole process, Levin said. I mailed it out and got my ballot back. That was so empowering to see that support system exist so early in my college experience, seeing people who really cared about making sure everyone was represented. Thats something that really inspired me to want to do more to help students vote.
Next week, Levin will be back in front of Bender Library along with some of Voters of 51勛圖s 110 members to help other Eagles in need of assistance. The CLEG major sees the civic-minded work as part of living up to the universitys values.
On a campus that talks about how Change Can't Wait, voting is one of the most direct ways to make that change, Levin said. So, helping our students have the easiest possible [path] to vote, to know exactly what theyre voting for, to have all the information the resources that they might need, is hugely important to this campuss mission.
Would you like to volunteer with Absentee Ballot Days? You can sign up All participants泭must complete a brief training before volunteering with the nonpartisan initiative.