SU provides information, parking for Nov. 8 polling

SU provides information, parking for Nov. 8 pollingOctober 31, 2005SU News ServicesSUnews@syr.edu

On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8, from 6 a.m.-9 p.m., Syracuse University will open its Schine Student Center to voters in Syracuse’s 16th Ward, Election District 1, as a polling place for the general election, as well as provide information for students designated to vote at other polling locations.

In the University neighborhood, polling locations are set by the City of Syracuse. Election districts reflect the geographic location and population density of an area, not the type of resident (student or non-student). Not all students will vote at the Schine Center, and some non-student residents of the area will vote there. Therefore, it is important that students and other residents confirm their polling locations ahead of time. For a guide to information for voters, visit the web site of SU’s Office of Government and Community Relations,http://govt-comm.syr.edu.

Those who have registered to vote should receive a confirmation card from the Onondaga County Board of Elections in the mail, stating the voter’s assigned polling location for Election Day. If voters have not received this confirmation card prior to Election Day, they should call the Onondaga County Board of Elections at (315) 435-8683 orvisit http://www.ongov.net/Board_of_Elections/home.htmland click on “Maps” or “Polling Locations.” From Nov. 1-8, voters may also visit the kiosks in the Schine Student Center and Goldstein Student Center, where maps of the immediate areas around campus will be displayed with a list of polling locations and election districts.

For students, faculty, staff and members of the public who vote at the Schine Center, free Election-Day parking will be available in the Waverly, Marion, Comstock and University Place lots, which will be marked with signs reading”Voter Parking Here.” If lots are full, attendants will direct voters to other parking. On Election Day, all properly displayed disabled parking hangtags and license plates will be honored in the marked disabled spaces in the Quad 5, E.S. Bird Library and R1 lots. Note that no disabled parking is available at the Schine loading dock. Disabled access to the Schine is through the entrance facing the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

In order to be eligible to vote in the 2005 general elections, voters are required to have mailed registration forms by Oct. 14 or hand-delivered them by Oct. 19. Registered voters who will be outside of their home counties and those who are physically unable to appear at the polls on Election Day are eligible to receive absentee ballots. New York State absentee ballots are available from voters’ home-county boards of elections, or by downloading the New York State form.Upon completion, the absentee forms must be mailed to the voter’s county board of elections no later than the seventh day before the election or delivered in person no later than the day before the election.

For more information, call the Office of Government and Community Relations at (315) 443-3919.