Heads up parents of college students!

[Heartstrings]

Last edited Sat Aug 17, 2019, 12:26 PM - Edit history (1)

Should be 2020.......opps!

#GOTV

[Freedomofspeech]

1. Brilliant!

[FM123]

2. Yes, yes and yes!

At one point I had all three of my kids in college at the same time - these absentee ballots saved the day. One more point - parents must check on their county election website to make sure that once they are sent in, they are received & counted!

[Wounded Bear]

3. K & R...for visibility...nt

[MissB]

4. My two registered in their college towns.

We live in a blue state. They each attend college in red states. They figured their vote would go further in the state they attend college in.

Most colleges have voter registration drives.

[volstork]

5. Um...

Election year is next year.

But how I wish it were this year

[Heartstrings]

6. Boom!

You noticed that, too! Didn't notice the year until after it had already been posted.....

Will edit.....

[Mersky]

7. In Texas, you can register to vote where you reside regardless of your mailing address

Your mailing address can be different from where you live and vote. The mailing address can even be out of state, so long as it is a working address where mail won't be rejected/returned.

Absentee voting? Sure, if that's what you want to do. It's a great thing to help your college aged kids get organized into the world... Including voter registration. Know how/when absentee ballots are counted in your state.

One of the top reasons people weren't registered in my gotv efforts last year was thinking the voting age is 21. Is shocking, really, and I don't know what's happening in high school civic/govt lessons these days, but dang, I guarantee everyone from my graduating class, peer family members knew they could vote at 18.

And, uh, don't go blaming millennials... There's insidious misinformation out there and us older folks need to lend a hand in lifting up these gifted young people facing a fraught world.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. It depends a lot on exactly what state the student lives in

and where they go to college.

Three states, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington do mail in ballots only. Other states have more complicated rules.

Some states, and I believe this mainly applies to the ones who do no advance voting, can make it very difficult to get an absentee ballot.

My younger son voted in his first election in the red state he went to school in, wanting to have the experience of going to a polling place, and likewise hoping his vote would matter more there. It doesn't. He wound up slightly regretting where he voted.

[TNNurse]

9. My first vote was by absentee ballot.

I grew up in GA, but was a freshman in college in Tennessee. I had just turned 18. It was 1968. So my first vote was by absentee for Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskey. I have never voted for a Republican for President ( and cannot imagine that I ever will). It was not until 1976 that my vote was for a winning Democrat. I was proud to vote for Jimmy Carter from my home state, and remain proud of that until this day.