Voter registration drives scheduled on the UW-Madison campus from Sept. 8 to Sept.18 will be cancelled for the next two weeks, the Madison City Clerk announced in a tweet.
This follows Chancellor Rebecca Blank’s announcement directing all undergraduate students to restrict their social gatherings solely to “essential activities.” The directive is due to an increase in the total number of student COVID-19 cases over the last five days. This measure was effective starting at 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 7 and will last through 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21.
While UW-Madison expresses pride in its capital city location and promotes community values that encourage students to vote, Blank has clearly expressed that COVID-19 needs to be taken more seriously due to the rising number of cases. What comes with a strong emphasis on the importance of voting is widespread voter registration.
“Okay great! I can still go to the dining halls and eat food there, wait in lines or go to in person classes, but I can’t register to vote?” twitter user MGR states in a reply to the Madison City Clerk tweet. “All the priorities are wrong here, this is gonna have a big impact on voter registration.”
No other in-person events for voter registration are currently scheduled to take place on the UW-Madison campus, but residents can register in-person at the City Clerk’s Office.
UW-Madison students can register to vote or check their statuses on their MyUW home pages.
Wisconsin residents are still able to register to vote by mail, email or online at myvote.wi.gov with a current valid Wisconsin driver license or ID card and if their current name and zip code are in the DMV database. For the presidential election, online registration closes on Oct. 14.
Gina Musso is a Senior Staff Writer at The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as College News Editor and Features Editor, focusing coverage around student government, campus COVID updates and in-depth reporting. Follow her on Twitter @gina__musso.
