<p>Hi All - I just got off the phone with my son and we were talking about the elections. He mentioned that he voted today at around noon and was suprised at how empty the polling station on campus was (this is a BIG school). He wasn't sure about the impact of absentee ballots - maybe some were using them since most students are from outside the local area. His overall impression was that few people cared. Is the the usual scene on campus or does this vary significantly by school? I wish students would understand how important it is for them to pay attention to the issues and vote! At least I feel proud that my son did his civic duty.</p>
<p>The President of D's college told the students at matriculation/move-in that they had their first college assignment: send for their absentee ballot or register in Massachussetts. My D and most of her friends voted absentee. I tend to think that is pretty common on most campuses where kids come from all over.</p>
<p>My older S registered to vote in PA when he was a freshman in 04. We are from MA and he thought his vote would count more in PA. HS Senior voted for the first time this morning. I woke him up early, took him out to breakfast, and went to the HS to vote with him. It was nice. Took him a while to figure out all of the referendum questions.</p>
<p>The first thing my DD did on her 18th birthday (after rolling out of bed) was register to vote. When she was home several weeks ago, two of her errands included going by the local democratic office for bumper stickers and yard signs and dropping off a letter to the election commission for an absentee ballot. She wouldn't have missed voting for anything.</p>
<p>My D voted (first time) via absentee ballot. She was quite pleased with herself, and I'm pleased that she's civic-minded enough to do some serious research on various local measures.</p>
<p>My D voted absentee as well. I don't think empty polls are much of an indication of slacking in this regard anymore with so many people voting absentee. This is especially true for a campus with a large OOS population of students.</p>
<p>My son actually called me up a few weeks ago asking about how to get an absentee ballot. He got one and then called again to talk about who to vote for. Today when I went into vote I was very pleased to see a rubber stamp next to his name where his signature confirmation was supposed to go - it said "absentee ballot". Three (various) votes for our family!</p>
<p>My S's school finishes their fall break today. Which is ridiculously close to Thanksgiving, but the reason, he claims, is so they can be home to vote. </p>
<p>His older sis, who lives in the area, came by to get him, and they went off to vote together today. Yay for sibling solidarity! :)</p>
<p>I was actually allowed to vote today! Yay for Wisconsin allowing people to register the day of the election at the polls! It has actually been a record turnout here in Madison and even in my small tiny polling place I was ~1350th person to vote there today (at around 5:30pm). Students at UW are being very proactive and are getting to the polls on campus (or from what I've heard from the undergrads).</p>
<p>I wasn't able to vote for an election since the 2004 presidential berth (which I opted to keep stay in PA by absentee until after the election as I had just moved to NC 2 months prior) as I really didn't know anything about NC politics and frankly didn't have time to digest what the deal was (nothing worse than an uninformed voter imo).</p>
<p>I actually registered just before my 18th birthday as I wanted to vote in the 2000 presidental primary. It was really cool being able to vote within a few weeks of my birthday (even though the primary is already decided by the time it gets to PA).</p>
<p>Hope those in WI voted NO on the gay marriage admendment and NO on the death penalty! Oh yeah, and YES to healthcare! :)</p>
<p>News is looking good to me, Santorum lost to Casey.</p>
<p>Tone,</p>
<p>My son at PSU voted absentee in our suburban Philly district. The local elections this year were important, so he kept his registration here.</p>
<p>Looks like the Philly area is going Blue this time!</p>
<p>Our state has early voting option. Son drove home on Fri. to vote. D. forgot to send her absentee ballot app. in time.</p>
<p>My 18-yr old Freshman S just called from out out east to check on local voting returns in Minn. Yea! He actually remembered to send in his absentee ballot! He said that a large crowd of kids were hanging out in the dorm lobby to watch the returns...</p>
<p>kathiep, I had the same experience today, when I saw the (AV) next to my son's name on the roll at our polling place! I am, at this moment, IM'ing with him cross-country as we tally the votes. He says there is a flurry of refreshing-of-cnn.com going on in his dorm hall tonight. I'm really glad to know so many students are voting and care about their civic duty and the ensuing results. Yay, future leaders!</p>
<p>I'm a student and a bad person for not voting, but it's because I ended up rather confused by the absentee ballot process. I'm a Texas resident but a student in Pennsylvania, and I wanted to vote by absentee ballot in Texas. The application online says that the absentee ballot must be mailed to my permanent residence or the address on my voter registration application- which is supposed to be my permanent residence or someplace else if mail can't be deilvered to my permanent residence. This seems to mean that my absentee ballot must be mailed to my house in Texas, the problem being that if I was there, I wouldn't need an absentee ballot. However, I got a (Texas) voter registration card in the mail at school, which seems to imply that there is some reasonable way for me to vote when out of the state. Did I miss something about the process, or does Texas have slightly weird laws, probably to combat vote fraud, that would have required my parents receiving my ballot and then sending it to me?</p>
<p>I did my NY ballot last week all the way from Australia!</p>
<p>I registered to vote as soon as I turned 18. I voted the first time I had the opportunity to, in the VA democratic primary. I voted in the VA general election (absentee) three weeks ago.</p>
<p>My son is at UVA, and they had the forms available there for students who needed to request absentee ballots. I know that he, and several of his friends voted. For most of them, it was their first vote, and they took their duty very seriously. They're off to a good start!</p>
<p>D proudly e-mailed me to say that she voted. She did not vote absentee, she registered at college, although I encouraged her to register her and vote absentee.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Young voter turnout in a set of targeted precincts increased by an average of 50 percent over the 2002 election, and by as much as 111 percent in some precincts, according to an Election Night analysis by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), continuing a national trend of growing young voter participation that began in the 2004 election.</p>
<p>"Based on numbers provided to us by the New Voters Project, it appears that in selected Ohio precincts with high concentrations of college students, the turnout increase was very substantial compared to 2002. Overall, the number of votes cast in those precincts increased by about 50 percent, ranging from 6% to 111% in specific precincts," said Peter Levine, Director of CIRCLE.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>My D was thrilled to vote in her first election, and did so by absentee ballot.</p>
<p>KrazyKow: Same happened to D from Calif going to school in Mass. We just mailed her absentee ballot when it came to the house. She got it in plenty of time to vote absentee. Better luck next election.</p>