By Samantha Moll

With Election Day less than a week away, many students are beginning to wonder when they will find time to get to the polls.

Students who need to go to their hometown to vote must make the choice between voting and cutting class, since faculty members are forbidden from cancelling, as per a statement sent to all faculty members Oct. 28.

“We are all agreed that voting is a paramount civic duty, and the Provost’s Office is delighted to see how deeply the Northeastern community is engaged in this election,” Mary Loeffelholz, vice provost for academic affairs, said in an e-mail sent to faculty Tuesday, Oct. 28. “Nevertheless, it is not appropriate to cancel classes for this purpose.”

One of senior journalism major Danielle Ouellette’s professors was going to cancel classes on Election Day. Now, Ouellette, a senior journalism major, will have to skip her classes Tuesday to go home to New Hampshire to vote.

“I think that it is one thing for the administration to decide that classes should not be canceled on election day,” said Lindey Seaver, vice president of the Northeastern Republicans, “but it is completely ridiculous to discourage professors from allowing their students the day off to vote.”

Members of other political parties around campus also said they thought professors should be allowed to cancel classes.

“I think it’s important that students get the time to vote, especially during high turn out elections when lines are longer at the polls,” said Jason Palitsch, president of the Northeastern Democrats. “If professors are teaching non-essential material, they should be allowed to cancel classes.”

Matt Lavigne, a senior business major, said he agreed with the statement from the Provost’s Office. Like many other out-of-state students, he said is mailing in an absentee ballot.

“Canceling class is not necessary since a large portion of students are not from Massachusetts,” Lavigne said.

Although NU Votes, a movement created by various student groups to encourage students to participate in the election, has deadlines for both voter registration and absentee ballot requests on their website for some out-of-state students, the deadline for absentee ballot requests passed.

Chris Toomey, a senior mechanical engineering student from Rhode Island, said he missed the deadline to request an absentee ballot.

Faced with the decision between voting and attending class, he said, “If it is the only way I can vote, I will skip class.”

Lavigne said a good alternative to canceling class would be to allow students an excused absence Nov. 4 if they are at the polls, since some students will have to return to their hometowns to vote.

Suzanne Ogden, a political science professor, never planned on canceling her classes or allowing her students an excused absence.

“Nobody else is given a day off, so why should students be given the day off?” she said.

No political science professors had planned on canceling classes on Election Day prior to the statement from the Provost’s Office, although they have been encouraging students to vote, said John Portz, head of the political science department.

The department participated in NUVotes to help register students and get them absentee ballots, Portz said.

“I’m sympathetic to students,” said Portz, “but I don’t know of any workplaces that close down.”

Although workplaces do not close on Election Day, “Massachusetts laws requires that employees who apply be granted a leave of absence to vote during the two hours after the polls open in their districts,” according to Mass. General Laws chapter 149 section 178.

With polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Portz said he agrees with the Provost’s Office that students should have plenty of time to vote during the day, especially since classes do not last all day.

However, some students still insist professors should be able to cancel classes.

“We have classes cancelled on holidays that symbolize U.S. freedom,” said Seaver. “It doesn’t make sense that there’s no holiday for voting.”

To find out which polling place to go to on November 4, students can go to www.wheredoivotema.com.