If your college student wants to vote, s/he should check the rules beforehand, whether s/he is living at his/her parents’ place and commuting, living at the college and intending to vote there, or living at the college and intending to vote absentee at his/her parent’s place.
Here are some web sites listing voting rules by state:
http://www.brennancenter.org/student-voting
http://campusvoteproject.org/studentguides/
In FL our kids were able to get an absentee ballot before they left for school.
My D goes to school in a swing state. She’s registered in her home state where it’s pretty certain who will win. Looks like she could change where she’s registered from this information and make her vote count more. Any drawbacks to this?
Some states have voter ID requirements that only accept certain types of ID (for example, some states do not accept college IDs or out-of-state driver’s licenses for voting), so she should check what kind of ID is accepted and obtain such ID if necessary.
The website for Rock the Vote lists a map of the US and you can click on the individual states to see what their rules are for student voting. My kids always voted at their college, using their ID and last 4 digits of SS#.
This was very helpful, @ucbalumnus. Thanks for bringing up the topic. My son was thinking of registering to vote at school, but it looks as if he needs to request an absentee ballot for his home state instead.
He can choose either (not both), but some states appear to make it more difficult for students to have the necessary ID to vote (e.g. not accepting college IDs or out-of-state driver’s licenses).
I’m going to register at my school. North Carolina doesn’t accept college IDs, but they’re fine with out-of-state driver’s licenses. Thankfully so. I NEED to vote in this year’s gubernatorial election in NC.
http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/student-voting-guide-north-carolina#Identification indicates that North Carolina only accepts non-North Carolina driver’s licenses as ID for voting within 90 days of registering to vote.
So say I registered to vote on August 10th. The election, on November 8th, is EXACTLY 90 days later. Would I be good with my OOS license?
I’d say you are running a risk of having to use a provisional ballot if you use an OOS driver’s license. Poll workers are not going to count days. If you show up with a copy of the law (posted by ucbalumnus), they are not going to argue with you, they are going to give you a provisional ballot. Unless you show up with a confirmed number, you are going to get a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot will only be counted on recounts (most likely won’t be counted).
If you want your vote counted, become a NC resident which includes getting a NC ID of some kind with an expiration date (student ID’s usually do not contain an issue or expiration date, and do not show you are a state resident). Or a passport.
Why would I have to use a provisional ballot if I clearly show eligibility to vote? That’s really dumb. If I show my passport, would that clear me for eligibility?
@ucbalumnus, he’s in school in Ohio and it looks like they want (but don’t require) you to state that Ohio (and not you’r parents’ state) is your permanent residence. He doesn’t want to do that, so he’ll just get a Mass ballot.
@LBad96 - I was in college in NC shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that students were allowed to vote in their college district. We struggled then to force local election commissions to obey the law. Reading about how they continue to throw up road blocks a generation later makes me incredibly sad and angry. Don’t let them stop you!
My son will be doing the same thing. I see no drawbacks at all. Just make sure she follows the registration requirements to a T. I’ve told my son that one of the first things he needs to do at orientation is look for a “Register to Vote” table. Knowing his college, I expect the information will be easy to find.
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Starting in January 2016, if you cannot show the required ID, you will be allowed to vote a provisional ballot, which will be counted if you later provide the required ID to the county board of elections by noon on the day prior to the election canvass. Unless the count on election day is close enough to case a recount, the provisional ballots won’t matter even if you do show up with the correct ID.
Yes, a US passport is accepted as voter ID by North Carolina, as described at http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/student-voting-guide-north-carolina#Identification .
Of course, if he cares about the presidential election, his vote is likely to count much more in Ohio than in Massachusetts.
http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/student-voting-guide-ohio#Residency says:
I should be good, then. But I may as well bring my passport just in case my OOS license doesn’t work even if I follow everything to a T. I don’t want to register in NJ because 1) it’s obvious who’s going to win and 2) NC has a gubernatorial election that I MUST vote in.
So, this year I registered to vote in my home state (Texas) and voted in the presidential primary. I will be going to college in Ohio and I want to vote in Ohio since it’s one of the super important swing states. Does this mean that I have to cancel my Texas voter registration?
LBad, you ask the local city electoral folks about the last date a registration is valid for the full ballot and about the id required. The poll workers aren’t going to read a copy of the law or be intimidated-- most likely, you will either be fully registered in their records or not. And a provisional ballot still allows you to vote for president.
Want to mention my kids’ issue: they were able to vote in their college states, registered and did. Then graduated and forgot to re-register where they live now. One was rather ticked she couldn’t vote in the primary.