I can picture the scene now. You’re just going about your day as you normally would, scurrying between classes, overpriced coffee in hand. You avoid the kid on his bike riding in the wrong lane, ignore the canvasser in the HUB, with Turquoise Jeep blaring through your fake Beats by Dre. You happen to glance down at your phone and BAM — there it is — in that moment, your life changed forever.

A single email –“Remember to Vote Tomrrow” from Courtney Lennartz

For the first time ever, the University Park Undergraduate Association was allowed access to the student-wise listserv yesterday from the Penn State administration. You may have recognized this yesterday when an e-mail from UPUA President Courtney Lennartz and GSA President Wanika Fisher found its way into your Webmail inbox, reminding you to vote tomorrow in case  you missed any of the three thousand Facebook posts yesterday.

“Tomorrow is a very important day for our country and our community,” the e-mail read. “Election Day is an opportunity for each of us to have influence in the direction of our government to have a voice in deciding policies that affect us all. If mobilized, college aged voters have the ability to swing the election one way or the other.”

It went on to urge students to prepare beforehand — making an informed decision, knowing when polls are opened and finding your designated polling location. Lennartz and Fisher directed students to www.votes.psu.edu for information on the candidates and their campaign platforms.

“The important thing is to just do your part as an active citizen,” it concluded. “Find a few minutes to go out and vote tomorrow and help shape our future.”

I’ve long feared a world in which UPUA has access to the student-wide listserv. Just imagine it — e-mails about recently passed legislation that they think is relevant to the student body, reminders about events that we either already know about or simply don’t care about, and invites to their weekly general assembly meetings.

Well, that world has officially become a reality.

I wish you all luck as we try and survive the Great UPUA Listserv Apocalypse of 2012.