The debate about where students are able to register to vote continues to confuse many nationwide, despite a 1979 Supreme Court ruling that no state, county or district can restrict a student from registering there if they can claim residency. At AU, many students are already registered in their home states and plan to send in absentee ballots or will go home to vote on Nov. 4.
Emma Greenbaum, a junior in the School of International Service, said she is registered to vote in her home state of Arizona but would not register to vote in D.C. if she was not already registered.
"D.C. will go for Obama, [and] Arizona will go for McCain," she said. "I want Obama to win, so why would I bother with D.C.?"
Lauren Reddington, a freshman in the School of Communication, said she just finished sending in her application for her absentee ballot from Buffalo, N.Y.
"My family is really politically active," she said. "We took care of registering me immediately."
AU students have several options of where to register to vote. If students decide to vote by absentee ballot, they should check the regulations on their local board of elections online, as most registration deadlines are a month before the election.
If students are not registered at home, they can register to vote in D.C. using their AU address.
Each state has different voting registration guidelines that vary in difficulty from state to state. Virginia and Idaho have the strictest regulations, which are meant to determine whether the student intends to remain in the state after graduation, according to New York University's Brennan Center of Justice.
Students who want to register in D.C. must complete registration by Oct. 5. Student do not have to demonstrate intent to stay in D.C. after graduating, according to the D.C. Board of Elections' Web site.
Students with federal financial aid or scholarships based on where their parents live should check with the regulations of their awards to make sure that where the student is registered to vote has no effect. Almost all financial aid and scholarships are not affected by being registered to vote at one's school, according to the Brennan Center.
Some boards of elections released false information that claimed school registration disqualifies students from being declared as dependents, prompting the IRS to officially announce earlier this month that changes to a dependent's voter registration does not change their dependent status on a tax return.
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