Campus entities provide accessible voter registration for SU students
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Before students can cast their ballots in November for the midterm general election, they must make sure they’ve taken the necessary steps to prepare to vote.
For many college students, this election year represents the first time they’re eligible to vote. Several election entities, from Syracuse University and the Student Government Association to the New York State Board of Elections, each encourage students to register to vote now, before midterm elections, so they’re ready for Nov. 3.
“As students, it is important that we are aware of the elections taking place and understand how the decisions made by elected officials can affect our communities and our everyday lives,” SGA President Emily Castillo-Melean and Vice President Max Lachut wrote in a statement to The Daily Orange.
On Sept. 10 and 16, the Office of Student Experience sent campus-wide emails to students detailing voter registration instructions. On Sept. 15, SGA also shared a “How to Register to Vote” post on its social media providing instructions on how to register in students’ hometowns or Onondaga County.
SGA’s post detailed state-by-state voter registration deadlines, including the dates mail-in registration forms need to be postmarked or received. In New York, mail-in forms must be received by Oct. 24.
Beginning the week of Sept. 14, voter registration booths and paper forms were made available for New York state at three different locations across SU’s campus: the first floor of Bird Library, Schine Student Center and Goldstein Student Center on South Campus. The booths will remain in place until the voter registration deadline.
SU’s Office of Government and Community Relations also provides a resources page detailing everything Syracuse students need to know before stepping into a pollbooth come November.
“When you vote, you are raising your voice,” the website reads. “You are also keeping our tradition of government ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ alive for generations to come.”
The page details requirements and methods for students to vote. For students wishing to register in New York state, they can register to vote in a few different ways:
- Register to vote online via the New York State Board of Elections online registration portal.
- Fill out an online New York State Voter Registration Form. Print the form, sign, date it and mail the form to the county board of elections where they reside. If in Onondaga County, they can mail to the Onondaga County Board of Elections.
- New York residents with a New York state DMV-issued drivers license can register via the NYS DMV website.
- Request a New York State Voter Registration form by mail using the Board of Elections’ database.
Those who wish to vote outside of New York state can either vote early or on Election Day in-person or request an absentee ballot. Since individual state requirements may vary, students looking to vote should research how to do so through their local board of elections or state website.
Those who plan to vote in an absentee ballot by mail should make sure their ballots are sent to their board of elections no later than 10 days before the election in New York.
“Students should vote for a variety of reasons,” Grant Reeher, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs professor of political science and a senior research associate at the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, wrote in a statement to The D.O. “To make their voices about who they want to represent them heard, to participate in the most core of all civic activities, as an expression of their citizenship, and, particularly for their age group, because younger adults do not currently vote as much as older adults.”
U.S.-based students attending SU are eligible to register either in Onondaga County or their home state. They cannot register to vote in two places during one election cycle. If they choose to vote in their home state, they must vote via absentee ballot or in-person on Nov. 3. The decision is up to the voter, Reeher said.
“I tend to think that until they establish a new permanent living place, students should probably vote in their home district, since that is where they are most currently rooted, most likely to know some of the local issues, etc.,” Reeher wrote. “There is no right – or wrong – answer, and ultimately students should vote where they feel the most personal stake.”
Castillo-Melean and Lachut wrote that they encourage students to educate themselves on candidates and issues on ballots they’re voting for.
Reeher explained that students who prefer to think about “political strategy” might choose to vote in a state that has an important or contentious election race happening this year.
“A student on the far Left voting by mail in a House or Senate race, say, in Alabama, is not likely to have an effect. Better off voting here in purplish Upstate New York,” Reeher wrote.
No matter where students choose to vote come November, the registration process marks the first step to the pollbooth.
The deadline to register to vote in New York state is Oct. 24. Early voting begins that day and extends until Nov. 3.
