Today is Centre County's municipal Election Day, but not many students or residents are expected to vote.

"Nobody cares," said Wanda Hockenberry, assistant director of the Centre County Elections office. "It's not a presidential [election], so people don't care."

Hockenberry said she expects votes from about 25 percent, roughly 21,000, of Centre County's 85,000 registered voters. Last year's presidential elections brought out 65,000 voters.

Student turnout will be even lighter today, she said. "They don't have a reason to vote," Hockenberry said. "They're only here temporarily, so they're not going to be affected down the road."

Hockenberry said she expects about 10 percent of student-registered voters to cast their ballots. She said there's no way to find out exactly how many students are registered because those living off-campus attend the same polls as townspeople. She said about 5,000 students are registered to vote at the HUB-Robeson Center precincts, where on-campus students vote.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and results will be totaled tonight. New voters should bring their voter identification cards or a photo ID. Local polling places can be found at http://county.centreconnect.org/elections/locator.asp.

Many candidates running for State College Borough Council said that if students would vote, they'd make a huge difference.

"They could actually control this town," council candidate Richard Garis said. "But they know they're only going to be here a short amount of time."

Council President Tom Daubert said students could do anything they wanted to if they voted.

"But they don't," he said. "We're lucky if we get 300 students that'd vote [today], which is too bad."

More than 3,000 students voted at the HUB in last year's presidential elections, but only 68 students at those precincts voted in the municipal elections two years ago, Hockenberry said.

On- and off-campus student turnout for municipal elections is usually between 300 and 400, Daubert said.

Election Guide (PDF format).