ASCWU will be providing a safe and clean environment to ensure that student votes are collected and counted towards this year’s 2020 presidential election.

ASCWU Director of Governmental Affairs Edgar Espino wanted to remind students to register to vote before Oct. 26 which is the last day to register to vote by mail and online. Same day voter registration will be offered at the Student Engagement Hubs on campus, as well as the Auditor’s office, which run election centers.

“Those who you elect at a local level will have a more direct impact on your daily lives than, say, the President of the United States would,” Espino said. “That’s one thing that people don’t realize half the time when they just don’t vote.”

Voters between the ages of 18 and 29 are the voting demographic with the lowest turnout in the United States, according to the United States Census Bureau.

Kittitas County Auditor Jerry Pettit said they’re expecting a high turnout this year even if there aren’t that many students on campus.

“We’ve done this, all of us have worked together for 10 years to do this so it’s not something new to us, it’s what we do,” Pettit said.

The only big changes coming this year, as opposed to previous years, is the difference in location. Instead of the two rooms downstairs in the SURC, they’ll be upstairs in the ballroom to accommodate for spacing between people.

This draft was made to visualize how students would be guided through the process. Someone will ask if you’re registered or unregistered and will then direct you to the line or to the waiting area. Each ballot station will have enhanced cleaning.

For those unsure about mail-in ballots, Pettit published a press release on Sept. 29 talking about it. Voters can check online through voter.votewa.gov to ensure that their ballot has been counted and tallied. He also published another press release Oct. 2 over the concerns surrounding ballot box security. Ballot boxes have logs for who access each one and who is transporting ballots from a ballot box is also logged.

The Student Engagement Hubs where students will be able to register to vote as well as submit their ballots will be held on campus Nov. 2 from noon to 8 p.m. and Nov. 3 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.