Should College Students be allowed to vote where they attend college
 

I just ran across this mailer while doing some fact checking. So should college students be allowed to register where they attend college? Should they be forced to register in their last state of residence even if they were a minor at the time?

Is it possible to have a situation where a student would be ineligible to vote anywhere? Is this fair?

Unfortunately, there are not separate polls for national and state offices. Even if a state could make the claim that they do not consider certain people eligible to vote for state offices under Article I (sect 4) and Article II (sect 1), this could deny them their rights under Article IV (sect 2) and Amendments 14 (citizenship in state of residence) ,15 , 17, 19, 23, 24,and 26 (all voting or representations amendments).

where's the option for "don't care"? I really don't think it matters.

The towns where colleges are located really seem to push the whole "register here!" issue...especially when the Census comes around.

I registered in my college town when I went away to school in '94, but then voided that and re-registered in St. Louis and voted absentee after the big '94 elections...that was more for pride though. It's a heck a lot easier to vote in your college town, but that could pose residency problems down the line, I think.

If so, it's not fair.

I think there should be a single standard for who's considered a "resident". If some of the people who happen to satisfy the rules are college students, well, that's the way it is. (But what do I know? I also think towns should actually enforce public drunkenness, public nuisance, and noise ordinances, and arrest/fine/evict people who violate them.. .rather than pass zoning that prohibits college students.)

They shouldn't be allowed to vote at all, until they've worked for a living and paid taxes. :p

I guess what concerns me is the idea of being caught 'between states'. If your parents still have their house and it's you last address of record, then fine. But if you give up your physical residence to move to your college, then how could you claim residence at and address you no longer rent or own?

The bottom line is that everyone lives somewhere, and the US tradition is to not tie the right to vote to property ownership.

Students should apply for postal registration for their home town.
In my opinion it's better that they shouldn't be eligible to vote somewhere where they are (statistically) unlikely to be living for the full future term of the candidates.

Yes, they might not end up living back where they came from either, but the fact that their families probably will, might prevent them from making protest votes?

Hey Bruce - what happened to no taxation without representation? ;)

ETA due to Rich's post - in cases where the student does not have a permanent "home" ie family address, then of course their place of residence should be their college location. No-one of age should ever be denied the vote - many people in the past died to get the vote, its importance should never be under-estimated.

Doesn't say you have to pay the taxes first though?

We had this issue a few years back in a local city - a mid-sized private college was running into zoning issues while developing property they owned for campus expansion. They encouraged all of the students to register locally, in the hopes that they would vote for a pro-university city council member to influence the rezoning issues.

The school was officially neutral on the candidates, and didn't actively campaign for the candidate at all, but the registration of the students was enough to influence the election, and change the zoning restrictions.

I'm of two minds on this issue. The students are living there for 4 years, and are residents of the local community. If you try to write restrictions to limit them from voting, you'll end up creating unintended consequences that prevent many of the more transient local citizens (renters, etc.) from voting.

Choice preferably but vote where they go to school.

I will be living here after I graduate and my hometown politics mean really little to me.

It's not at all a slam-dunk that the students are going to vote for what the university wants!

Children pay taxes, and have representation, but can't vote.

We've been paying taxes for 7 years and still can't vote......


apparently the fact that we live somewhere with politicians to represent us counts as representation, even if we get no say in who it is. A bit like the state providing you with an attorney to defend you when they prosecute you, maybe....

You can't choose who represents you, but you can still bitch at them if you don't like the way they are doing it. They won't check to see if you're a registered voter or not.
In truth they probably won't put much stock in your individual complaints either, but will add it to their constituent mood file of complaint topics.

Are you planning on applying for citizenship?