Voting registration to be held at MNSU
Emmanuella Shokare
Staff Writer
The elections are drawing near; what do you know about voting? Do you want your voice to be heard? How can you do that? By voting? Yes. Here at MNSU, we are lucky to have events that would help educate us regarding voting, knowing the candidates to name a few.
There will be a voter registration event here at MNSU, “Vote with Confidence” on Oct. 10, 2018. It will be held on the first floor of the Memorial Library from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. This event is organized by the Library Services in collaboration with the Community Engagement Office and the St. Peter League of Women Voters (a nonpartisan organization).
It is a free, drop-in event open to both MNSU students and community members. The goal of the event is to get as many people as possible to register and to feel comfortable about voting in the Nov. 6 election.
”This is the first time in my memory that we have an event like this,” said Monika Antonelli, Outreach Librarian at the Memorial Library. “We have done voter education in the past but this time we are collaboration with the St. Peter League of Women Voters and Community Engagement Office and we are all working together to host this event so it’s going to be nonpartisan. It’s about getting people registered to vote, understanding how to vote and knowing where to vote”
The event is to help students understand the ins and outs about the Minnesota voting process. Students and attendees who had not registered to vote would have the opportunity to register and with the help of a volunteer at the event, the students will have a mock voting experience of what to do when voting and also how to vote by absentee ballot.
There will be five stations to help learn how to vote. The five stations are to see if you had registered to vote, what election and races that they would vote for this year, how to check-in on Election Day, how to fill out a ballot and, how to vote by absentee ballot.
“This would make it easy for people to be able to vote. In the state of Minnesota, you can register to vote at the poll on Election Day but that could slow down the process. So this is a way for people to register beforehand, know where their polling places are, show them a copy of the ballot that they would be using for the election and can vote early.” said Monika Antonelli.
Even if you are not eligible to vote but want to know about voting, you are welcome to come for the event.
For more information contact Monika Antonelli at monika.antonelli@mnsu.edu or 507-389-2507 or call the library circulation desk (507) 389-5952 or (507) 389-5953
Header photo: Regina Mustafa takes part in the GreaterThanFear: Rally and March Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, in downtown Rochester as others gather at the Mayo Civic Center to hear President Donald Trump speak at a Make America Great Again Rally. Mustafa is a mayoral candidate for the City of Rochester. (Gage Cureton | MSU Reporter)