Registering to Vote at Penn

U. S. Citizens who will be 18 or older on April 22, 2008 may vote in this year's Primary Election, if they live in Pennsylvania.

Penn students may choose to vote either in Pennsylvania or in the state from which they moved. The Law and a 1979 Supreme Court Decision give students the right to vote in the location of their student domicile.

Therefore, you can decide whether your vote will make a larger impact if you vote in the location of your student domicile or if you vote in your previous permanent residence.

If you want to vote, you have to register. You can register online. You can use that link to register, to change your address, or to change your party. You can do it right now!

If you'd rather, you can fill out a paper form, print it, and mail it in. Or you can take it to the County Board of Elections (address below).

The deadline for registering to vote in a Pennsylvania primary election is Monday, March 24, 2008. If you mail your form, it must be postmarked by March 24. You can deliver it in person. Philadelphia's Board of Elections is located at 520 N. Delaware Avenue. The entrance is off Spring Garden. The election is scheduled for Tuesday, April 22, 2008.

If you've moved here from another state and you'd prefer to vote there, you'll need to register in that state and then vote by absentee ballot. You can register and find out more about absentee voting at Rock the Vote.

Most students who live on campus will vote at David Rittenhouse Laboratories (DRL) at 33rd and Walnut. But double-check as we get closer to the election, because this location could change. You can check with the County Board of Elections for the location (see below).

The City of Philadelphia is in Philadelphia County.

Links

• REV UP: Registration, Education, and Voting at the University of Pennsylvania (with excellent links)
• Voting in Pennsylvania (official Pennsylvania information)
• VotesPA (official Pennsylvania registration forms)
• Important Deadlines for Pennsylvania Elections
• Vote Smart (Check out the issues.)
• Political Fact Check from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
• Declare Yourself (resources for new voters)
• League of Women Voters
• Open Secrets (Find campaign finance information: who's giving, who's getting and how much.)
• Fund Race 2004 (See who's contributing to the candidates)
• National Voice (a list of voter registration projects)
• Printable maps of Congressional Districts (109th Congress)
• Web Sites for the Secretaries of State and/or Directors of Elections
• Federal Voting Assistance Program (for American voters overseas)
• Tell an (Overseas) American to Vote

Groups Supporting Voter Registration

• Penn Leads the Vote
• League of Women Voters
• League of Women Voters of Philadelphia
• Rock the Vote
• Punk Voter
• Smackdown the Vote
• Head Count
• The Voter Zone