Confusing Voter Registration Laws Could Affect Presidential Election
Register at parents' home? At school? Students get conflicting advice
In recent years, several legal battles have highlighted the topic and have come down on the side of the students. At the same time, O'Loughlin says he has seen a national "drift" toward allowing students the option to vote at their campus addresses, though there are regions that resist the trend.
For voting groups like Rock the Vote and SAVE, the key is getting students the right information. SAVE has pushed for legislation, and a bill has been introduced in the House and Senate that would require federally funded colleges and universities to register student voters, similar to the way departments of motor vehicles across the country give citizens the option to register to vote while getting their driver's license.
Rock the Vote has recently introduced a "there's no place like home" campaign to spread the word to students that their campus is their home too. "I think that young people are savvy voters, and they will register and cast a ballot where they consider home and where they think it makes the most sense politically," says Heather Smith, executive director of Rock the Vote.
By Election Day, voting groups hope their messages will have cut through some of the misunderstandings. "You've seen the game 'Telephone'—if one person hears the right instructions, the message slowly slips as it is delivered from person to person," says Segal of SAVE. "It's very easy in such a large body of people to have confusion about the laws and procedures."
And in what could be a very close election, that confusion could cost one of the candidates.
Reader Comments
College vrs military
Why is college dierent than the military. The military absentee ballot requests are easily obtained and given alloing everyon in the military the ability to vote in there resident state although living and working in another. Why is there a different standard for college students? They are suppose to be the brightest, so why would it be more difficult for them than for military personel??
State of residency matters
In presidential election the electoral college is used. The amount of votes a state has is Givenby th results of the last cencus results and for someone to vot in a state that they are not a resident should not be allowed. That is why absentee ballots are allowed. To vote outside your state of residency is to undermine the electoral college system.
student voting
I am uneasy about the student voting procedures. I was concerned about my son not being able to vote. He tells me that his campus had voter registration and he was told he would be a resident there at least 8 months out of the year, so he could register. He has only been at this out of state college for 2 months. To me he should have had to been there at least 6 months to be considered a resident of that state. This is to me is just asking for trouble on down the election road. He said he was told they were trying to get as many votes for Obama as was possible by having college students vote...that one comment alone could be grounds for a lot of legal questions later. I had prefer college students be given access to voting as an absentee ballot from their state or home in order to avoid any questions later.
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