St. Thomas students who live on the main campus or in the neighborhood immediately north of Summit Avenue will have to walk no further than McNeely Hall to vote on Tuesday, Sept. 15, in the St. Paul primary election.
The McNeely Great Room again will serve as the official polling place for Ward 4, Precinct 6, which is the area bounded by Summit, Prior, Marshall and Cretin avenues. Resident students who live in Brady, Dowling, Ireland, John Paul II, Morrison, Murray, Selby or St. John Vianney Seminary halls will vote in the Great Room, as will commuter students living in the precinct.
Students who live on the south campus or in the neighborhood immediately south of Summit Avenue are in Ward 4, Precinct 7, and will need to vote at Groveland Recreation Center, 2021 St. Clair Ave. This includes resident students who live in Grace and Cretin Halls, the Child Development Center, the St. Paul Seminary and in the houses or apartment buildings at 2110 Summit and 2085, 2109, 2151, 2171 and 2175 Grand.
If you live elsewhere in St. Paul and need to know where to vote, see Ramsey County's Elections Precinct Finder.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Races on the primary election ballot in Precincts 6 and 7 are to determine mayoral and St. Paul School Board candidates. Primary voters will determine the top six of seven candidates for three four-year School Board seats, and voters will whittle to two the four vying for the two-year seat vacated when Tom Conlon stepped down. The top two of four mayoral candidates also will advance will advance to the Nov. 3 general election.
The McNeely Great Room will be the location for Precinct 6 voting in November, too.
Anyone who wants to vote will need to provide identification on Election Day. A St. Thomas ID card is suggested.
Plans call for rosters of all resident students, including St. John Vianney Seminary and the St. Paul Seminary, to be provided to county election officials.
It will be easier for a student to register at the polling place if his or her name is on a roster. If not, you can register in one of two ways:
- Along with a student ID, provide either a St. Thomas fee statement that lists your name and on-campus address (not your parents’ address) or a utility bill that lists your name and address in the precinct.
- Have a student who already is registered to vote in the precinct accompany you to the polling place and vouch that you live in the precinct. Students who are listed on one of the rosters provided to election officials can vouch for students not on the rosters.
The voter-registration cards that students will sign at polling places ask them to verify that they have been a resident of Minnesota for 20 days. Among those not eligible to vote on Tuesday will be freshmen who are from outside Minnesota and didn’t move here until the beginning of the school year.
To accommodate neighborhood residents who drive to McNeely, St. Thomas is reserving some spots in Lot K, immediately south of McNeely, for voter parking from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Voter turnout on Tuesday is expected to be light.
