On Tuesday, hundreds of students ventured off campus to cast their vote in the Pennsylvania midterm elections thanks to the help of Let’s Vote Nova. Let’s Vote Nova hosted shuttles, busing students to the four polling locations designated for on-campus residents. The shuttles ran approximately every half an hour from the Connelly Center, starting at 9am in the morning and ending at 7:30pm in the evening. 

Campus is divided into four local voting wards, with student’s on-campus addresses determining which polling location they should use. For example, many of the Main Campus dorms were required to vote at St Mary’s Episcopal Church in Wayne, while students living in the Commons were required to vote at The Rosemont Plaza Apartments in Bryn Mawr this year.

Although this can be confusing for students voting on campus for the first time, Let’s Vote Nova made the process seamless, by both physically directing students on election day and spreading awareness virtually via its website, which has a plethora of resources about voting. The website contains information ranging from how to register to vote to what to bring to the polls to FAQs.

Let’s Vote Nova is a student-led initiative started by The Villanova Student Government Association, Office of Student Involvement, and Office of Government Relations, and other campus colleagues. 

Student Body President Jose Garcia explained that Let’s Vote Nova “helps students register to vote and on Election Day get them out to the polls.”

Caroline Levine, a postgraduate student at Villanova and former student-body President, founded Let’s Vote Nova in 2020. 

“I was really frustrated with my own experiences voting as a student on campus, just with figuring out the mailroom and how to get your ballot and turn it in and all things like that,” she said.

She started working with other students on Student Government and the Government Relations Office to figure out “how to do this better and have a centralized effort to try to make [voting] easier.”

Hally Ammons is the Assistant Director for Government and Community Relations at the University. Within Let’s Vote Nova, Ammons helps the students who run the initiative and the Office of Student Involvement, who oversees the student organization.

Ammons explained that a real strength of Let’s Vote Nova is that when students register with Let’s Vote Nova, “the folks who are volunteering understand how to register Villanova students.”

Outside groups that volunteer on campus to register students often make errors, due to the complex way Villanova’s campus is gerrymandered and how students have to fill out the forms. On the other hand, Let’s Vote Nova is tailored specifically to Villanova students.

Let’s Vote Nova has been working hard all semester to raise awareness about the importance of voting and answer any questions students may have about the confusing process. However, actually getting students out to vote on Election Day is the most crucial part. 

As of 11am, Ammons explained that they “had a really nice turnout [for the shuttles] so far, particularly for a midterm election. Folks seem really energized. Students seem really eager to vote.”

“There’s a constant stream of shuttles going back and forth. We’ve got some vans to help supplement,” she said.

The turnout was only expected to increase throughout the day, with an expected number of 300-400 students to be serviced by the shuttles. 

Carly Isselmann, a Sophomore Communications major, had a positive experience with voting and the Let’s Vote Nova shuttles.

“[It] was super simple and there were so many people around helping just trying to make it as easy as possible for everyone. The shuttle took us to our voting location and waited for us to drive back which was super convenient. The actual process of voting took probably 5 minutes and was really simple and a great way to feel like you’re making a difference, especially in a swing state like Pennsylvania,” she said.