As Los Angeles County rolls out its new vote centers, Pasadena City College has been designated an official voting location for the four days leading up to and including Super Tuesday, according to campus police on Twitter last Tuesday.
Registered voters will be able to cast their ballots in the Circadian Room on the main campus from Feb. 29 until election day on March 3. It will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first three days and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day. The Circadian Room is located at the north end of the Campus Center on the first floor.
This election cycle, LA County will be using new touchscreen voting machines. Vote centers have also replaced the traditional polling places. This allows residents to cast their ballot at any center in the county, regardless of precinct. These centers will be open for either four or 10 days preceding election day.
PCC’s involvement in the election cycle has also garnered intrigue from campus members.
“We had inquiries from across the college community, there were faculty members and students who were interested in having the college step up to do this,” said Alex Boekelheide, special assistant to the superintendent/president of PCC. “Part of our mission is to help civic engagement and to make sure that we’re educating engaged citizens, so there was certainly alignment with what we do here.”
While PCC has opened its doors as a center, the county is completely in charge of voting functions and processes.
“We’re basically providing the space. We provide the four walls and the electricity and the heating so that people can come in and cast their ballots,” said Boekelheide “But it is a county operation: they’re hiring the staff, they’re managing what goes on in the space and around it.”
The vote center will be open to any LA county voter, so there will be some accommodations for first-time visitors to the campus.
“We’re going to section off some parking in the north end of Lot 1, and we’ll play a support role to the needs of the staff from LA County” said Lt. Alan Chen of the PCC Campus Police.
Polling places are often located at schools, churches, and community centers, but this year marks the first time that PCC has served as a polling place, according to Chen.
“This is the first time, and I’ve been here almost 22 years and we’ve never had this,” said Lt. Chen. “And I think it’s a good thing. I might take advantage of it myself.”
The city of Pasadena will operate 24 vote centers. Voters can find further information about the voting process, including a full list of locations, here.
Campus Police issued a correction to their previous tweet on voter dates and times on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020.
To find out how to vote at PCC, click here.
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