Election year! Constant craziness in the headlines, relatives bickering, seems like everyone is divided about who their preferred candidates are for the 2024 General Election on Tuesday, November 5th, 2024.
While the political talk is at an all-time high, the number of college-age people voting is not an impressive figure. Statista.com reported that in 2022, less than half of all people aged 18-24 were registered to vote. Beyond that, Census.Gov reported that 51.4% of those registered to vote participated in the 2020 election. While this was an increase from 2016, there are so many college-age voices that are not being heard.
Why is it important to vote? That is a whole other question that will be answered in the next part of this series. For now, let’s look at how to get registered to vote.
In Oklahoma, there are three ways to register to vote. Online, by mail or in person. Each method is outlined here, on the Oklahoma State Election Board Website. If you want to check to see where you vote, if you are already registered, or sample ballots, simply use the OK Voter Registration portal.
As a college student, there are some common questions when registering to vote. I sat down with Assistant Professor of Political Science Dr. David Searcy to answer some of these FAQs.
Where should I register my address?
“I would strongly encourage them [college students] to use their college address,” Dr. Searcy said. “The reason being that it makes it easier to actually cast your ballot. If you say ‘Well on election day I plan to drive an hour home,’ there’s more things to go wrong with that.”
Searcy also went on to say that students in dorms are allowed to register the dorm as their address.
Should I get an absentee/mail-in ballot?
“Absentee ballot, or voting by mail, can be a valid option. The problem with absentee voting is that Oklahoma and a lot of states have voter ID laws, and if you’re going to vote by mail in Oklahoma, you not only have to request an absentee ballot in time to get it back to the election board by election day, but you also have to send in a scanned copy of your ID front and back and have that notarized that can find,” Dr. Searcy said. “If you know a Notary Public who can do that, absentee ballot might be a good option for you.”
What if I don’t want to vote?
“Even if you think you are currently not interested in participating, go ahead and get registered anyway,” Searcy said. “ The reason is that studies have found that people very often will change their minds. They’ll say they’re not going to participate. But as we get closer and closer to election day, they’ll say ‘Hey, maybe I should’ or ‘Well, actually, I do favor one candidate over the other.’ But if you don’t get registered, and we get past October 11, you can’t change your mind.”
When are the deadlines to register to vote and to request an absentee ballot?
- In Oklahoma, the deadline to register to vote is October 11th. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is October 21. Completed ballots must be returned to the County Election Board no later than 7 pm on election night.
- In Texas, the deadline to register to vote is October 7th. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is October 25th. For returning absentee ballots, the ballots must be returned by 7 pm on election day if they are not postmarked, or by Wednesday, November 6th at 5 pm if they are postmarked.
Be sure to register to vote! Come back for part two, detailing WHY it is important to vote!
