Election Day 2020 – Albright College

Election Day 2020

Yes, Albright’s polling site will be open for in-person voting, Nov. 3, 2020.

As an anchor institution in the Reading community, Albright values equitability and inclusivity in our community, which is comprised of a remarkable diversity of people, backgrounds and thoughts. Voting is an important part of meaningful engagement with our country and the world around us.

Location
Albright College has offered a polling location on campus since 2012. With the safety of our campus and Reading communities in mind during COVID-19, we have shifted our 2020 polling station from Roessner Hall to the Bollman Gym, located inside Albright’s Schumo Center for Fitness and Wellbeing (next door to Roessner Hall).

Parking
Voters may park in the Schumo Center’s main parking lot and along 13th Street. Overflow parking will be available in the Roessner Hall parking lot.

Where to enter
Please enter Albright’s Schumo Center for Fitness and Wellbeing through the building’s main glass doors, on 13th Street. Follow signage posted inside the Schumo Center.

COVID-19 safety measures
Doors will be propped open and sanitization will be ongoing throughout the day. The Schumo Center’s fitness facilities will be closed and all practices will be cancelled on Election Day. The college’s facilities team will conduct a deep clean before Schumo Center fitness activities resume on Nov. 4.

All visitors are required to observe coronavirus safety protocols on Albright College’s private campus. These protocols include:

  • Wearing a mask that covers both nose and mouth
  • Maintaining a social distancing of at least six feet
  • Utilizing hand sanitation stations

Conduct on Albright’s private campus
While Albright College is happy to open its campus lawns, chairs and benches to members of the community and their well-behaved pets, we ask that visitors clean up any trash or pet excrement (bagging and placing it in proper receptacles). Pets are not allowed on Albright’s athletic competition fields.

As a private institution, Albright College reserves the right to prohibit all weapons, including concealed firearms, on campus. Illegal drugs are also prohibited on campus.

Albright College’s polling location is for residents of Reading’s 17th Ward (Precinct 17-8). If you go to a polling place other than the local polling place assigned to you, your name will not appear on the roster of voters. In this case, poll workers will provide a provisional ballot.

Provisional ballots are provided when a person’s eligibility to vote can not immediately be confirmed. Provisional ballot voters will be required to provide identifying information, including an address and signature, so that elections officials can research voting eligibility. Provisional ballots are processed and tabulated during the Official Canvass (after Election Day), and will likely not include contests that apply to your specific hometown, for which you would normally be eligible to vote.

Election Day is Nov. 3

Learn about voting deadlines and procedures, across the country, here.

Visit the Berks County Election Services website here.

“I am a voter” pop-up party events*
11.3 @ 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m., McMillan Center
Show off your voter sticker, get some treats and reflect on the past while planning for the future.
*Open to Albright campus members only

11.3 @ 5 p.m., Science Field
Stress Relief Yoga

11.3 @ 7 p.m., North Hall a202*
Movie Night
*Open to Albright campus members only

11.3 @ 8 p.m., McMillan Center*
Live election results and electoral map coloring
*Open to Albright campus members only

11.4 @ 11 a.m., McMillan Center*
Election Reflection
Dry erase boards will be available for students to reflect and plan ahead after the election. Learn how to engage in difficult conversations, following strategies used in the Controversy with Civility Model.
*Open to Albright campus members only

11.4 @ 6 p.m., Zoom
11.5 @ 2 p.m., Zoom
Election Results Roundtable
Join Albright faculty to share your thoughts on the 2020 elections.

Action on issues facing our country does not end with an election. Please join us for one or all upcoming “Racial Healing and Reconciliation Community Panel Discussions” at Albright College:

Political elections can elicit stress and anxiety. If you are feeling overwhelmed and need someone to talk to, the Counseling Center and Chaplains are available to meet with you and debrief. This is NOT therapy but more so an opportunity for you to process your thoughts and feelings around the elections. Counselors and Chaplains are available via zoom to provide a safe space for sharing for the entire week of elections.

Chaplain Mel
https://calendly.com/revmel
11.3 @ 10-4 p.m.
11.4 @ 12-3 p.m.
11.5 @ 10-4 p.m.

Counseling Center: 610-921-7532
11.2 @ 2-3 p.m.
11.3 @ 1-3 p.m.
11.4 @ 2-3 p.m.
11.5 @ 2-3 p.m.
11.6 @ 2-3 p.m.

Chaplain Ibi
https://calendly.com/ibangura1
11.3 @ 4-9 p.m.
11.4 @ 9-1 p.m.
11.5 @ 4-6:30 p.m.
11.6 @ 9-4 p.m.

Counseling Center scheduling instructions
Please call the Gable Health and Counseling Center and times will be scheduled in 15-minute increments. You will be given a time to connect with a counselor. A link will be provided through the Health Center Portal.

Chaplain scheduling instructions
Click on the link for the chaplain that you would like to speak to. You will then sign up for a time on their calendar. You will receive an email containing a link to meet with a Chaplain.

If there is an emergency situation, please contact Public Safety immediately at 610-921-7670.

“You can disagree. You can’t disrespect.”

As an institute of higher learning, it is our duty to help students learn how to productively take part in difficult conversations and to teach students how to make their own, informed decisions. So it’s important at this time to recognize that

OUR PURPOSE
The purpose of Albright College is to provide an academic learning community dedicated to exploring and interpreting knowledge, promoting inquiry and informed argument and testing theories both new and old. As a private institution, not bound by the same constitutional requirements as public institutions, members elect to become part of this learning community. In so doing, each member accepts a responsibility in supporting the college to realize its core values, mission and vision and to recognize and respect the personal freedoms to which each member of the community is entitled.

OUR PRACTICE
In our learning community, exposure to a range of ideas with which we may or may not agree is essential to accomplishing the college’s core values, mission and vision. However, individual freedom of expression that encroaches upon the safety or personhood of other community members — such as bullying behavior, hate speech and any form of communication that carries no meaning or value other than the expression of hatred for any individual based on their perceived association with a particular group or any group of people with a shared commonality — is not welcome at Albright College.