This year’s Virginia gubernatorial and General Assembly election is approaching fast. On Tuesday, November 5, we will choose who will be in charge of making decisions on important issues for the State and students.
For Virginia students, there are many issues important to us ranging from the rising cost of a college education to the economy and health care. It is important that, we as students, make our voices heard and cast our votes this election.
For many, this may be the first election in which we vote. However, young people, including college students, don’t vote at the same rate as our parents and grandparents.
In 2012, 64.8 percent of Americans age 25 and older turned out to vote while only 41.2 percent of those between 18 and 24 years old voted.
That gap is even greater during non-presidential election years. Given that young people are less likely to vote, is it surprising politicians do not pay attention to the issues that matter most to us? If you don’t vote, you can’t complain when our leaders ignore your interests.
Part of the reason students are less likely to vote is that we face several unique challenges to casting our vote that other age groups do not.
For many of us, we have moved to a new community to go to college. We’re new to voting so we don’t know the registration process, when to vote, where to vote or what ID we need to vote. Some of us are confused about whether we can vote in our college community or if we need to go back home to vote.
This being said, we can’t let a lack of information or cynical politicians stop us from voting.
Voting is at the core of American democracy. It is our responsibility as citizens to inform ourselves and exercise our right to vote.
We need students to vote this November to have a say in our future.
Here is the information that students need to know to cast their vote in this election:
Identification is needed to vote:
Students will need identification in order to vote at the polls. Luckily, student IDs from an institution of higher learning in Virginia are valid voter ID.
Absentee Voting:
Virginia residents must have a justification to vote by absentee ballot. For those of you registered back home, attending college outside of your home county is an acceptable reason. Applications for absentee ballots must be received by mail by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 29. Virginians may also vote absentee in person until Saturday, November 2.
Completed ballots must be returned before the close of polls on Election Day.
Voting on Election Day:
Election Day is November 5th. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. – 7 p.m. To find your polling location, go to www.sbe.virginia.gov.
For more information about voting in Virginia, check out the Fair Elections Legal Network’s Virginia voting guides, including a student voting guide, at www.fairelectionsnetwork.com under “resources.”
