A student initiative launched last fall proposed moving the polling place for Borough District 1 to the Frist Campus Center from its current location in Trinity Church. But Frist cannot meet the Borough Council’s parking requirements for a polling place, students and administrators involved said.
The undergraduates working to make the change said they want a location that would be more convenient for students, who form the vast majority of the voters in Borough District 1.
“Our goal is to increase voter turnout among students. We’d like to get students more actively engaged in the local political process,” Eric Stern ’11 said of the initiative. “We’ve seen over the past year that Borough policies can adversely affect us, and we believe that low voter turnout has led the Borough Council to largely neglect the concerns of students when formulating policy.”
David Christie ’10 said that Frist was suggested as a possible option last November, during the search for a space that “would be convenient for students and accommodating for people in the Borough.” Christie is also a member of The Daily Princetonian Editorial Board.
Borough Clerk Andrea Lea Quinty toured Frist, and the Borough Council was set to discuss the issue at their meeting on March 10, Christie said. Before the students could formally present their case, however, the Borough requested written confirmation that the University could provide sufficient parking accommodations at Frist, Christie added.
Transportation and Parking Services Director Kim Jackson and Associate Director of Public Safety Duncan Harrison had not yet been consulted about parking at Frist when the Borough requested the guarantee, said Kristen Appelget, the University’s director of community and regional affairs.
“The item had been put on the agenda [for the Borough Council], and we were told at that moment that there was a specific parking requirement for Frist,” Appelget said. “When we were asked to provide this written letter, we reached out to [Jackson and Harrison] ... They went to investigate. They let us know there was no way they could provide the amount of parking needed.”
For a new polling location to be set, the Borough Clerk must make a recommendation to the County Board of Elections, which sets the polling location. Quinty could not be reached for comment.
Since Quinty’s recommendation is due by April 1, the project has been pushed back a year, Christie explained. The new goal is to change the location for the 2010 election, he added.
Christie said he spoke with Council members regarding their concerns about moving the polling place.
“[The Council’s focus] is on permanent residents,” Christie explained. “They are concerned about residents who are here year after year.” He added that a major concern of the Council is finding a location that is easily accessible to both students and residents.
“Some of them are not convinced that a change [needs] to be made, but they are open to being convinced,” Christie said. “If we brought them a location in the future, they would definitely consider it.”
He added that students would continue working with both the University and the Borough to find a new location.
“We’re pretty optimistic that we can make this happen at a different location in the next year,” he said, adding that the Borough Council seems “open to a proposal.”
Appelget said she felt the project is an “exciting indication” that students want to get more involved in the electoral process.
The endeavor to move the polling location is a joint venture of groups including P-Votes, College Democrats, College Republicans, the Whig-Cliosophic Society and the USG.
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