By Brandon Fey, Assistant News Editor
The 2024 Pennsylvania Primary Election was held on Tuesday at polling places around the state, and one such location was the ballroom of the College Union Building at Gettysburg College. Throughout the day, students, faculty and community members came to vote on campus.
The polling operation at the college was supervised by Ward 2 Judge of Elections Ed Riggs, who is closely connected to campus as the spouse of Gettysburg College’s 14th President Janet Morgan Riggs.
Commenting on the election, Ed Riggs said, “We’ve had a pretty sparse turnout, as we were expecting, because most of the races are kind of decided or there’s just one candidate to vote for.”
Despite the low turnout, he stated that he is confident that he will observe much greater participation on Nov. 5 for the U.S. Presidential Election, given its high stakes. However, for students to vote on campus in this election, they must be registered to vote in Adams County, not in Pennsylvania in general.
Gettysburg student Charles Henry ’26 chose to vote in Gettysburg and commented, “I would encourage other Gettysburg students to register here, too. Pennsylvania is a state with much closer elections than my home state of California, so votes here really can have a significant impact.”
Riggs has observed that several students remain unaware of the requirement to register specifically in the county as part of Ward 2 and are therefore unable to vote on election day.
“I just hope that college students are aware that they certainly may vote here in this ward if they have registered in Adams County. They might live in New Jersey, but they have to register here, which means they can’t vote in New Jersey, but they can vote here,” said Riggs. “I encourage everyone to do their civic duty and vote. The more people we have voting, the better things are.”
Henry shared similar advice for the student body: “Voting is a critical civic duty and, in my view, is the least we can do as citizens in a democratic society to participate in the public process and honor the sacrifice of those who have fought for our freedom.”
