Alverno College gives students, faculty and staff the day off on Election Day to take part in the political process
October 31, 2012
Students, faculty and staff at Alverno College will be given the day off on presidential
Election Day to practice effective citizenship, one of the College's eight trademark
abilities. In addition, nearly 200 Alverno College students will be actively involved
in the political process as they train to be poll workers for the upcoming Nov. 6
elections. The training is providing the students an opportunity to practice their
own effective citizenship.
“This will be the third major election that the Alverno community has been involved
in, and students' experiences as poll workers have been very positive,” said Susan
Leister, director of Alverno's Internship office and the coordinator of the Poll Worker
Training Project. “They gain a trust in the election process and a new awareness of
the responsibility they have as citizens to vote, especially after observing the obstacles
some voters overcome to get to the polls.”
This is the third time Alverno has offered poll worker training sessions on campus;
the first was for the 2008 presidential election. Alverno was also closed on presidential
Election Day in November 2008 to encourage all members of the Alverno community to
be more involved in the political process. “It is so important for our students to
be engaged, effective citizens,” said Mary J. Meehan, Ph.D., president of Alverno
College. “It is part of the foundation of the Alverno experience. We want our students
to make informed choices and be involved in community issues.”
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission awarded Alverno a grant to train students
as poll workers for the upcoming elections. The grant is one of only 15 awarded nationally
in a competition that drew more than 200 proposals. It is helping Alverno and the
Milwaukee Election Commission recruit and train students - including several Spanish-speaking
students - to help in election activities and create materials for the upcoming election,
along with future poll worker recruitment programs.
In addition, the grant enables Alverno to offer leadership opportunities to two interns
- Isela Ramirez and Elizabeth Flores Bustamante - who are assisting with the grant
activities and work with the Milwaukee Election Commission.
In total, the College has held 10 poll worker training sessions on campus throughout
October. Representatives from the Milwaukee County Election Commission and the City
of Milwaukee Election Commission, Alverno alumnae Lisa Catlin-Weiner and Naomi Guddie,
have been leading the two-hour training sessions in which participants are trained
as election inspectors or site coordinator assistants. All positions are paid, including
a stipend for training, and require poll workers to work half- or full-day shifts.
Poll worker responsibilities include greeting voters, verifying voters' polling sites,
registering new voters, assisting the chief election inspector at each site, handing
out ballots, check-in, handling voting machines, helping to maintain traffic flow
at the sites and other related tasks. To date, 200 students have completed the training
and have been assigned to voting wards throughout the City of Milwaukee.
Published on October 31, 2012 | Categories: Newsroom migrated press release