This election season, Kent State Today will feature a series of stories about voting on campus, sharing information about how and where to vote, first-time student voters, important event dates and deadlines.
Where is my voting location? What do I need to bring – or not bring – with me to the polls? These are some of the questions student voters at Kent State University may have about this coming Election Day and Craig Berger, associate director of Community Engaged Learning in Kent State’s University College and the co-chair for the Kent State Votes initiative for student voter education and engagement. He has been sharing essential information with Kent State’s student voters, some of whom may be voting for the first time.
Where Do I Vote?
The Kent Campus is divided into four voting precincts and has three voting locations. Voters in two precincts will vote at the Beverly J. Warren Student Recreation and Wellness Center, voters in another precinct will vote at the Christian Life Center on Summit Road, near Route 261 and voters in the final precinct will vote at the United Methodist Church of Kent at E. Main Street and Horning Road.
To know which polling place they should report to, students can visit the How to Vote page on the Kent State Votes website, or the Ohio Secretary of State’s website.
The polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. Kent State Votes will be operating a shuttle on Election Day that will stop at Risman Plaza and make a loop, stopping at all three voting locations before returning to Risman Plaza.
What Do I Need to Bring with Me?
IMPORTANT: An image of your ID shown on your mobile phone will NOT be accepted as your identification. Only the physical ID will be recognized as valid.
Students who are Ohio residents should bring one of the following:
- An unexpired Ohio driver’s license, Ohio state ID card, or an interim identification form issued by the Ohio Registrar of Motor Vehicles. Note: an unexpired Ohio driver’s license, Ohio state ID card or interim identification from the Ohio Registrar of Motor Vehicles with your former address is acceptable as long as your current address is in the pollbook.
- An unexpired Ohio National Guard ID card.
Students who have registered to vote in Ohio and who have permanent addresses outside of Ohio should bring:
- An unexpired U.S. Passport or Passport ID card
- An unexpired military ID
- An unexpired U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card
What You Can Bring
You can bring a voting “cheat sheet” or a sample ballot with you to help you remember how you wish to vote. You are also allowed to look up candidates and issues on your mobile phone while you are waiting to vote and while you are voting. Berger encourages students to research candidates and issues before Election Day using non-partisan resources like the Ohio League of Women Voters website.
What Not to Wear
No one wearing clothing, hats, buttons, stickers or other items associated with a candidate or issue will be allowed inside the polling location. If you’re wearing a t-shirt bearing a political issue, you may be asked to turn it inside out while inside the polling location.
What to Expect
Berger said that voters should expect to have to wait in line to vote, as this is a Presidential Election year and high voter turnout is expected.
When it is your turn to vote, a poll worker will ask for your identification, confirm your registration, provide you with a ballot and instruct you on how to make your choices.
You will be directed to a tabletop voting booth and allowed to take as much time as you need to complete your ballot. “Selfies” and other photos are not permitted while you are voting.
When you have completed your ballot you will take it to a scanning machine, where you will insert it and might be invited to take an “I Voted!” sticker.
Why It’s Important to Vote
Kent State University had an important role in getting 18-year-olds the right to vote. Kent State President Todd Diacon, recognizes the university’s place in history in prompting the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971. “Really, as a result of the activism and all the tragedy coming out of May 4, Congress eventually passed that amendment and we now have the right to vote,” Diacon said. “Kent State played a major role in that.”
Diacon has called upon students to vote as part of their “civic duty.”
When Berger speaks with students, he underscores the importance of taking advantage of this opportunity to engage in your own government. “This very large group of people in our country are taking this action and were all doing this side-by-side or person-by-person standing in line,” he said. “It makes for a very vivid representation in our everyday life of what it means to live in this country.”
He tells students, “Just really soak up the experience. Really think about what you are doing and how important it is,” Berger said. “And my second thought would be: please don’t let this be your only action that you take to be engaged with your local community or where you call home or a place that’s important to you.”
“There’s something about active voting being a launchpad for other activities to connect and influence the community,” he said. “And that’s really what we’re hoping for, in addition to them casting a ballot.”
