<p>Does anyone have information on out-of-state students voting in Missouri in the election? Does the school help register students when they arrive on campus? Absentee ballots are great, but Missouri is a swing state so voting there can really make a difference.</p>
<p>According to some info they sent out, 80% of the class supports Obama. It would be great if it were possible for the students to vote in Missouri. Anything to put a dent in McBush's chances ;/</p>
<p>Side note- can you 'unregister' in your home state? My school pretty much forced us to when some people came, and I don't think I can vote absentee without going to the department and showing id (with 10 days left I don't know if I'll have time to do this).
Besides... I'd rather vote in Missouri than a state that is all but guaranteed to be red (with an electorate college system, my vote pretty much means nothing here).</p>
<p>This past year administration did a really bad job at ensuring that people were registered for the primaries, or even getting information out about when the deadlines were, so a few students set up an initiative to ensure that this would not be an issue in the fall. As a part of this initiative, I promise we will do everything we can to make sure that students who want to vote in Missouri will be able to. There should be voter registration forms available on campus throughout orientation that can simply be dropped in the mailbox at Wohl and voila - you're registered! We also are guaranteeing lawyers at the WashU polls to make sure no student vote gets denied - there were problems with this in 2004. So, yes, you can register in Missouri. This state is pretty picky about stupid stuff with registering, like all registration cards have to be on special MO cardstock, so just wait until you're on campus to bother with it.</p>
<p>If you find it at all difficult to find information on campus about voting or registering in the state of Missouri PLEASE let me know so we can make sure that is fixed and every student interested in registering is registered by the deadline.</p>
<p>Johnson181 - To "unregister", you're going to need to contact your state election commission and let them know that you are moving to a different state and need to cancel your registration there. Then just register in MO like anyone else would (though I think there will be a place where they ask if you've been registered in any other state on the form, which obviously you would answer differently).</p>
<p>I found out the same information as lechzayenpara in the above post. Students should un-register in their home state (usually just going to the place where you first registered) and explain you want to vote in the state where you're attending college. Then, at orientation, there should be information about registering in Missouri. All that is required is a local address (which can be your dorm) where you will have lived for more than thirty days prior to the election. It sounds pretty easy. There is a local chapter of SAVE which is a student voting organization on the WashU campus, so I'm sure that can be a help if you encounter any problems.</p>
<p>In '06 they had a voter registration drive on campus and I was able to switch from my home state to MO by just filling out the registration card as a "change of address". As long as you know where you were previously registered, this should work (and saves you the hassle of having to go to your precinct back home). It takes you off the voting list in your home state and registers you to vote in MO. In the last election, everyone who lived on the S40 voted in Wohl, so it was really easy to vote and make it to class on time.</p>
<p>lechzayenpara - My D will be a soph student and recently asked me what to do so she could vote at school during the Nov. election, so I was glad to see this thread. She is attending a language program in Vermont until Thurs., but returns to WashU Sunday 8/17 to start an orgo chem review week. Do you know when and where upperclassmen will be able to fill out a registration card with change of address?</p>
<p>If she'll be at WashU Sunday, she'll be there during freshman orientation... we should have a table up somewhere on the South 40 (either in Wohl or on the path to the underpass) then with registration cards available, and I'm sure we'll do it various days throughout the school year in Wohl and Mallinkrodt (or this year maybe they'll relocate tabling to the DUC?) before the deadline, also. At least that's what we're trying to arrange. I'll post again on this thread once the plans and dates that we'll be doing that are solidified. If anyone wants more definite information, I'm sure they can contact Jordan Aibel through facebook... he's working in STL on the plans right now, so he'll have more up to date information than I can give you for the time being.</p>