This spring, students on the Tempe campus won’t have far to go to cast their votes in local elections.

The Undergraduate Student Government received approval from the Tempe City Council on Dec. 10 to open an early-voting polling location on the Tempe campus.

Now USG is moving full-speed ahead with the site, said Sarah Aagard, director of local affairs for USG and political science sophomore.

“We’re working with the city to run through final logistics and to get everything ready,” she said.

The first opportunity to use the facility will be during the Tempe City Council primary election. The election is on March 9, but the early-voting location will open on Feb. 16.

USG is planning a forum for mid-February where students can meet and ask questions of the city council candidates, Aagard said.

“The city council race is competitive this year, with four candidates for three spots,” she said.

Whether or not the location will remain open for state and national elections based on the size of the turnout is ultimately up to the county, but USG officials are confident the site will attract many Tempe voters, Aagard said.

The polls will operate out of one of the Safety Escort Service offices in Palo Verde West, according to the USG proposal.

During the three weeks of early voting, the Safety Escort Service will work only out of its South campus office in Sonora Center.

Rudi O’Keefe-Zelman, political science and journalism junior and the vice president of policy for USG, said the temporary move will not affect the service’s operation.

USG is considering using Safety Escort Service vans to assist voters with transportation to the site, according to the initial proposal.

“We’ll be meeting with the city clerk to discuss how we can get more people to use [the location],” O’Keefe-Zelman said. “We just want to make it accessible for everyone.”

The budgeted cost for the facility is about $15,000 per election cycle, according to the proposal. The funding, like most USG initiatives, comes from the $50 student fee paid each semester by ASU students.

“By using early voting, there are no strict ID requirements that often stop students from voting,” O’Keefe-Zelman said, referring to the problems faced by students who live in residential halls and can’t go home to vote.

“It all goes back to one thing: More students voting is probably the simplest and most powerful thing we can do,” she said. “The more students vote, the more people listen to [them].”

Reach the reporter at jessica.testa@asu.edu