Voter Registration Surges At Aurora University
Librarian Signs Up 71 Students In 2 Days, 257 Since August

AURORA, Ill. - Voter registrations spiked at Aurora University on Monday and Tuesday, with 71 voters signing up on the last two days before the state deadline for the November election.

Registering Voters--Patrice Peel, right, Aurora University student from Oak Park, was among a record 257 AU students registering to vote on campus since August. Left is Amy Manion, deputy voting registrar and information services librarian. Peel registered at an Oct. 1 "Sit-Down Summit" that discussed presidential candidates.

Amy Manion, AU information services librarian and deputy voting registrar, said, “The right to vote defines our democracy.

“In the last few weeks leading up to the voter registration deadline, the enthusiasm and interest that Aurora University students have displayed shows that they know how precious that right is, and how important it is to exercise it.”

Manion said she signed up a record 257 future voters, including 80 residential students, since August.

She estimates she fielded voting questions from another 250 students.

In addition to taking registrations at the library’s information desk, she signed up voters in visits to classrooms, during freshman registration, and at other campus events sponsored by student groups. They included he Political Science Club, Organized Action Council, AU Student Association and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity..

Manion invited AU students who registered with their home address to contact her for information about voting early or voting by absentee ballot. She will provide information that will allow students to vote without returning home on election day.

Students, faculty, and staff are grateful that the service is offered on campus. Manion said.

After the primary last spring, a student who had never voted before and was very unsure about what to do, wrote to Manion. The writer said, "I voted. Thank you very much for opening this door for me. You took the time to educate me and now I am a better person because of that."

Manion also praised the Aurora Election Commission and Kane County Clerk’s office for their cooperation. “Both work very hard to ensure that students are able to exercise their right to vote.”

During the 2004 election, before she became a deputy voting registrar, Manion distributed mail-in forms and delivered about 80 forms to the Aurora Election Commission.

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