Wednesday, August 24, 2016

What College and University Students Need to Know and Do
to be Able to Vote This November




For Release: Wednesday - August 24, 2016


Voter Photo ID in Place This Fall!

Recent federal court decisions may make it possible for Wisconsinites to be able to cast in-person absentee ballots, earlier than has been the case since 2011, including weekends in some counties. As a result of a court ruling in July, you now only need to have lived at your current address for at least 10 days by Election Day in order to register to vote in that election district or ward.

But it seems fairly clear right now that Wisconsin's restrictive voter photo ID law will be in effect this Fall.

Photo voter ID presents some particular difficulties for those college and university students who lack a Wisconsin driver's license. Some colleges and universities already have a student ID that is compliant with Wisconsin law and can be utilized to vote, others offer an alternative school-issued "voter photo ID" that students must proactively request. Still others offer no ID that can be used for voting.

We have prepared this simple, "one stop" webpage for Wisconsinites and out-of-state students who attend Wisconsin public and private colleges and universities to go to in order to figure out what they will need to do to be able to vote:

What college and university students need to know and do to be able to vote this November

We will continually update this site as new information is received or changes. Check back often. And make sure every one you know understands what they need to do in order to vote this Fall. Please feel free to share this information widely!





CONTACT:

Jay Heck
608/256-2686 (office)
608/512-9363 (cell)




Common Cause in Wisconsin
152 W. Johnson St., Suite 212
Madison, WI  53703
608/256-2686

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Join Common Cause in Wisconsin!
www.CommonCauseWisconsin.org




1 comment:

Carl Silverman said...

The obstacles to registering to vote are equally daunting, especially since many students move to a new address at the beginning of each academic year. Students must submit "proof of current address", and if they use a UW document for that purpose, must also submit "proof of current enrollment". These impediments didn't exist prior to the Walker administration. Back then, a student could register simply by writing his/her address on the registration application along with other identifying data.. The County or City Clerk would then mail a confirmatory post card to the applicant, assuring them that they were registered. If that card were to "bounce"back to the Clerk's office because that person really didn't really live at that address, that person would not be registered. Seemed to work pretty well that way. I'm not aware of any case of proven voter fraud attributable to that easy method. Wonder why the Walker administration changed the rules?