Sept. 7, Madison City Clerk’s Office tweeted that University of Wisconsin’s voter registration drive will be cancelled for at least the next two weeks.
According to the UW Voter Information website, the voter drive was set to begin on Tuesday, Sept. 8 and take place every weekday until Friday, Sept. 18.
The decision to cancel the voter drive was announced after an email from Chancellor Rebecca Blank was sent to students on Monday. Blank called for all students to restrict their movement on campus to help slow the rise in coronavirus cases.
UW Chancellor directs students to restrict in-person contact, movement for two weeks
The instructions given by Blank were set to become effective at 5 p.m. Monday and are to stay in place until 5 p.m. Sept. 21.
Blank called for all in person social events to be cancelled, including the voter drive scheduled to take place at 11 campus locations.
According to Blank’s email, UW needs to quickly flatten the curve or the opportunity for on-campus education will disappear.
UW’s Smart Restart Dashboard shows the university’s daily rise in COVID-19 positive cases for the past five days. The Dashboard reports that the seven day average percent of positive cases is 5.1%.
No statement has been made about plans to reschedule the drive. But UW Director of News and Media Relations Meredith McGlone, said UW is still committed to voter education and preparedness in an email statement.
McGlone said students are encouraged to sign up for the new BadgersVote text alert by texting BadgersVote to 56525. This will keep students up to date on elections and civic engagement and allow them to ask voting related questions over text.
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Online voter registration is still available for residents who want to vote in the Nov. 3 election. The UW Voter Information website states that students who aren’t yet registered can also register in person, by email or at their designated polling places on Election Day.
“Although November is still a ways away, we encourage students to register now,” Mcglone said in an email. “We’ll be communicating with students throughout the fall with important information.”
