Voting for students going to college

Parents Forum
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Voting-age students who will soon move to residential colleges to go to college should consider where they want to vote, meaning at college or where they lived before going to college:

  • If wanting to vote at the college, then they need to check the rules in that location for both registration and voting. If some sort of identification is needed to vote in that location, then a valid type of identification must be checked and gotten sufficiently in advance.
  • If wanting to vote where they lived before going to college, then they need to check the absentee mail-in ballot rules for this location, in order to get all of the paperwork done in time to get a ballot. If they have never voted before, they need to check for any additional rules (e.g. identification) that may exist in this location.

Voting-age students staying where they are and commuting to college but voting for the first time need to check the registration and voting rules for where they are currently at, in case any paperwork (e.g. identification) is needed ahead of time.

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Thanks for the post. Was looking for this information, so this definitely helps.

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The nonpartisan site Vote.org is an invaluable resource for election and registration information for all 50 states. FYI, in many places you can be registered in more than one state but can only vote in one election. https://www.vote.org/

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Make sure your student understands the laws around mail-in, absentee, etc. if it applies to him/her. I volunteered in both PA and TX for the 2020 election, and there were MANY absentee ballots disqualified for failure to follow the rules.

In some states it is illegal to give your absentee ballot to someone else to put into the absentee box (as many places have outside Town Hall, the public library, etc.) So if your student fills out the ballot at home with instructions for you to drop it off before election day- check to verify that this is a valid way to vote.

Outer envelope? Yes, it’s a waste of paper. But if it’s a statutory necessity that the actual ballot be enclosed in an envelope, which itself is enclosed in the mailing envelope- do it. Your ballot could be tossed.

Etc.

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Residential college students voting at the college who are likely to move to a new place each year (different dorm, or to off-campus apartments, fraternities / sororities, co-ops, etc.) should also be aware that they need to re-register for each move in order to receive election mail at their current address. Voting locations for in-person voting may change, and which districts one will vote for may also change, when moving to a new residence (these may also change for other reasons even when not moving).

Residential college students voting at the college may also want to consider where they want to vote in summer time elections (e.g. some states’ primary elections), if they will not be at the college during the summer. This may mean registering and voting where they will be during the summer, or getting an absentee ballot for the summer time election.