Many local residents to vote in Jadwin following polling place shuffle

Originally, polling places for two districts were located on campus, but eight others have been added following the damage that local infrastructure and buildings sustained due to the storm.

Voting locations for undergraduates remain unchanged. All undergraduates who live on the main campus are assigned to a polling place in Carl Icahn Laboratory, where four state-owned voting machines will be housed. Undergraduates who live in the eating clubs are assigned to vote in the Computer Science Building lobby. All polling places will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Seven municipal voting districts have been relocated to Jadwin Gymnasium at 800 Faculty Rd., where 17 state-owned voting machines will be in use, according to documents provided by the University. Some of the districts that have been moved to Jadwin had formerly been located in the Hun School, the Princeton Academy, Princeton Charter School, Littlebrook Elementary School and the Johnson Education Center.

In addition, the district that was originally scheduled to vote in the Suzanne Paterson Center has been relocated to the Computer Science Building at 35 Olden St., where a total of four machines will be in use.

In total, 14 of the town’s 22 voting districts have been relocated under the emergency plan. In addition to the eight districts that have been relocated to the University campus, four districts have been relocated to the John Witherspoon Middle School gymnasium and two have been relocated to the Princeton High School Performing Arts building.

The state required the municipalities to produce an emergency action plan for the polling locations, Princeton Township clerk Linda McDermott explained. The government needed to ensure that registered voters would be able to vote on Election Day, despite the potential difficulties with power or accessibility on Tuesday.

“We don’t want anyone disenfranchised for reasons of not being able to get to a polling place, or because of a polling place not being able to handle the situation because of problems with power,” explained Paul Donini, secretary of the Mercer County Board of Elections.

Officers of the local government and the University acted swiftly to cooperate on the necessary arrangements. The University became involved when Kristin Appelget, director of community and regional affairs, received an email from the municipal clerk’s office on Thursday. Appelget immediately brought the request to the attention of the University’s Emergency Operations Center.

The University’s plans for the alternate polling locations were finalized by Friday around 1 p.m., Appelget said. The municipal clerk’s office submitted the official plan around 2 p.m. that same day, and the new locations were announced shortly after.

“We were happy to step up,” Appelget said of the University’s agreement to host the polling locations. “As a community service, this is something that we’re happy to do.”

Appelget explained that the University was coordinating with local officials to assist in directing voters to available parking.

Appelget said the University was not concerned about overcrowding in Jadwin, which can fit 6,854 people in the stands.

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“We think we’re going to be prepared. People may need to wait in line, but we’re going to make sure that it gets set up so it’s as convenient as it could possibly be given the circumstances,” she explained.

Princeton Borough and the Township have about 15,000 registered voters, according to an estimate provided by the Princeton Community Democratic Organization. Roughly two-thirds of those voters’ polling places have been displaced.

The Princeton Community Democratic Organization has undertaken special efforts to ensure that voters are informed about the alterations. In an email sent Friday afternoon to members of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization, PCDO president Dan Preston asked volunteers to join in special efforts between Nov. 3 and Nov. 6 to notify voters of the relocations.

Beginning on Saturday, PCDO volunteers have canvassed neighborhoods speaking to voters in person about the relocated polling places.

“We try to get our word out to everybody,” explained Preston. “We’ve had actually a lot of success knocking on doors, providing a lot of information, talking to voters.”

As of Sunday evening, he estimated that the PCDO had knocked on about 4,000 doors of voters. He noted that in-person neighborhood canvassing was particularly important in this situation because many Princeton residents are still without power.

Municipalities throughout New Jersey have undertaken similar emergency plans. Residents displaced by the storm can vote via email or fax, state officials announced Saturday.