A house purchased by the UA in May will be used as an early voting site for the November general elections.

The University of Arizona has made the nearly 2,000 square foot house, at 1834 E. Mabel St., available to the Pima County Recorder's Office.

The UA is providing the building free of charge, because the university is a public university, said Bob Jones of the Pima County Recorder's Office.

The house was used through last Friday as one of seven early voting sites for yesterday's Pima County primary elections, Jones said.

"People can go into one of the satellite sites to vote prior to the election," Jones said. "It used to be that you needed an excuse to vote by absentee ballot. We are trying to make it easier for people to vote."

A site was requested near the university by the Associated Students as part of its drive to encourage students to vote, said Undergraduate Senate President Gilbert Davidson.

"We wanted to make it easier for students to vote," Davidson said. "Having a site near campus makes that possible."

He said ASUA would provide non-partisan information to students in the coming weeks.

ASUA President Rhonda Wilson said ASUA would also be going to classrooms to talk to students about voter registration.

At its May meeting in Flagstaff, the Arizona Board of Regents gave the UA permission to purchase the house for $150,000 from the estate of Wilhelmina Krauch, who passed away at age 102 in February. Krauch had lived in the house since 1930.

The request to purchase the house passed by a 4-3 vote, with then-president Eddie Basha casting the deciding the vote.

At the time, Basha said that he approved only because the university already owns the rest of the block, which is a parking lot.

Joel Valdez, UA senior vice president of business affairs, said the house was made available as a public service to the county.

"(The county) is paying all of their own expenses, like phones, while they are there," he said. "But they are not being charged rent."

He said the location of the house made it an excellent site for a polling place.

There are no definite plans for the house after the elections conclude in November. Valdez said there has been a lot of interest in the house.

"The house is in the path of future development," Valdez said. "So everyone wants it."

The house is now closed, but will reopen for early voting in early October for the November general election.

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