Now that you've registered for class, it's time to register to vote and confirm your correct information is on the voter rolls. The deadline may be less than a month away . Many states close registration as early as October 6. (In Nevada , mail registrations must be postmarked no later than October 4; and Mississippi has a Friday, October 3, deadline).
For a useful state-by-state interactive guide, check out the Legal Guide to Student Voting by the Brennan Center for Justice at NY University School of law. Here's their list of complete state write-ups.
U.S citizens who will turn 18 on (or before) November 4, 2008 , or have recently moved, need to register to be eligible to vote. The Federal Higher Education Act Amendments of 1998 require all higher education institutions receiving federal funds to make a “good faith effort” to distribute voter registration forms.
Students can register at their campus address as long as you can declare in good faith that on the day you register, you consider the campus address to be your home and do not have definite plans to move anywhere else (including, in some states, after graduation). In some states, this may mean that your car registration must be transferred to the campus address. However, voter registration at a campus address should not affect dependent status on parent income tax returns, because the federal Internal Revenue Code contains a specific provision allowing students to be claimed as dependents while they are away at college.
Registering at a campus address is probably more convenient than requesting, waiting for, and voting an absentee ballot from home. If you register at your campus address, you can simply vote at a neighborhood polling station on November 4. Or, in many states, just like non-student registered voters, you can vote early in person. “Early voting” is available at the local elections office as early as September 22 in Idaho and Virginia , September 23 in South Dakota , September 25 in Iowa and in most other states starting on September 30. Or you can vote by mail-in absentee ballot.
From the Pew Center's 10/2/08
From the Pew Center's 10/2/08 electiononline.orgWeekly: "Catherine McLaughlin, Harvard University Institute of Politics (IOP) executive director said that she has met students she calls "marooned voters," those who come from states where first-time voters must either register in person or vote in person. New voters who registered by mail must vote in person in Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee and Louisiana. Voter identification requirements, including those that require voters to show government issued photo identification, can be particularly troublesome, [U.S. Rep. Jan] Schakowsky said. A Rock the Vote survey that found 19 percent of young adults 18-29 years old do not have a government issued photo ID with their current address."