Shuttle service offers early voting
Rides offered from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Monday
McLean Bennett
Issue date: 10/30/08 Section: News
The College Democrats and the Barack Obama and Jeff Smith campaigns are sponsoring a shuttle service between campus and City Hall to help students vote early in this year's election.
The shuttles, or volunteer cars, run from noon to 4 p.m. on weekdays and pick up students between Phillips and Schneider Halls. Students are taken to City Hall, 203 S. Farwell St., where they can either submit absentee ballots or register to vote prior to Tuesday's election.
"When I voted (early) there was a line of six people," said sophomore Paydon Miller, president of the College Democrats. Miller added that the shuttles' roundtrips to and from City Hall usually take less than a half hour.
Early voting and registration will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays through Monday.
Senior Samantha Lee, a member of Student Senate, cast her ballot last week and said the process was simple.
"There were tons of people working and nobody even there voting so everybody was willing to help you out," Lee said. "It only took like five minutes tops to register and to vote combined."
As of earlier this week, City Hall had been processing about 400 early voters a day, said city clerk Donna Austad. During the 2004 election, City Hall brought in as many as 1,000 voters a day near the end of the early voting period, and Austad said a similar influx could be in store this year during the last few days prior to Election Day.
So far, Austad said there have been more early voters this year compared to the 2004 election, but said that increase has been small - especially compared to several other cities in the state. Green Bay's city clerk estimated there has been a 25 percent increase in absentee voting compared to the 2004 election, and Kenosha's city clerk said there could be as much as an 80 percent increase this year.
"A lot of people don't want to stand in long lines on the day of election," said Mike Higgins, city clerk of Kenosha.
Officials in several cities added that recent changes in state law have made absentee voting more convenient. Prior to changes in the law, Higgins said, voters could only vote absentee if they were "homebound" or were going to be out of town on Election Day. Higgins also said spikes in absentee voting may be a result of encouragement from campaigns to do so this year.
"Now people can vote absentee just because they don't want to stand in line."
The shuttles, or volunteer cars, run from noon to 4 p.m. on weekdays and pick up students between Phillips and Schneider Halls. Students are taken to City Hall, 203 S. Farwell St., where they can either submit absentee ballots or register to vote prior to Tuesday's election.
"When I voted (early) there was a line of six people," said sophomore Paydon Miller, president of the College Democrats. Miller added that the shuttles' roundtrips to and from City Hall usually take less than a half hour.
Early voting and registration will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays through Monday.
Senior Samantha Lee, a member of Student Senate, cast her ballot last week and said the process was simple.
"There were tons of people working and nobody even there voting so everybody was willing to help you out," Lee said. "It only took like five minutes tops to register and to vote combined."
As of earlier this week, City Hall had been processing about 400 early voters a day, said city clerk Donna Austad. During the 2004 election, City Hall brought in as many as 1,000 voters a day near the end of the early voting period, and Austad said a similar influx could be in store this year during the last few days prior to Election Day.
So far, Austad said there have been more early voters this year compared to the 2004 election, but said that increase has been small - especially compared to several other cities in the state. Green Bay's city clerk estimated there has been a 25 percent increase in absentee voting compared to the 2004 election, and Kenosha's city clerk said there could be as much as an 80 percent increase this year.
"A lot of people don't want to stand in long lines on the day of election," said Mike Higgins, city clerk of Kenosha.
Officials in several cities added that recent changes in state law have made absentee voting more convenient. Prior to changes in the law, Higgins said, voters could only vote absentee if they were "homebound" or were going to be out of town on Election Day. Higgins also said spikes in absentee voting may be a result of encouragement from campaigns to do so this year.
"Now people can vote absentee just because they don't want to stand in line."
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