Voter registration laws are laws that have been put into place to ensure that government elections are conducted in a fair and organized matter. These laws have evolved over the years in order to ensure that any citizen that is eligible to vote, has the ability to vote in any government election In the past, there were certain instances of people being prohibited from registering to vote due to their race or gender and there have been laws put into place to put a stop to this discrimination.
The voter registration laws vary by state but no state is allowed to prohibit people from voting or registering to vote due to their race, gender, orientation etc. These laws are put into place in order to avoid instances such as voter fraud or a person casting votes from multiple states. Though these laws are put into place in order to ensure order and are not intended to leave out eligible voters, the laws that are in place sometimes make it more difficult for certain groups of people to vote or register to vote.
For example, college students have shown to be heavily affected by the current voter registration laws which leads to a potential difference in the outcome of political elections The registration laws in place have made it difficult for many college students to vote while at school especially those who attend college out of state.’ Many states have similar registration requirements such as, being a US citizen, not being convicted of a felony, and being a resident of that state but there are some states that have a few specific laws that make it difficult for college students to vote, For example, in or to be eligible to vote in the state of Alaska, Washington DC, and other states, you must not be registered in any other state to vote.
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This is difficult for college students who are from these states and for college students who attend college in these states (who are from other states). For students are from the state, if they attend college in another state, they may have issues when it comes down to registering to vote because most students are not eligible to register to vote until they are already in college. For students that attend college in these states (Alaska, D.C. etc.) they may ineligible to register to vote in the state where they attend college due to the fact that they may have previously registered in their home state. These issues, though they may have easy fixes, keep many college student away from the polls each year. Another law that has caused an issue for many college students in the US, is the current Voter ID law that is in place The law states that you must have an “acceptable” photo ID in order to vote. Many people have protested that this law discriminates against minorities and young people, specifically college students In the recent election, many college students reported being turned away from voting locations due to not having an acceptable form of ID.
Some college students even reported that although they were told that their ID was acceptable, those who were running the voting locations often seemed as if they did not know what to do with their ballots and many college students left wondering if their vote would even count. There have been many reports of large amounts of ballots from college students being discarded because of these laws which leads to an inaccurate representation of college students in the results of these elections This law makes it difficult for many college students to vote due to their inability to obtain the right forms of ID. North Carolina had a large issue with this in the past election2 and many college students worried that they would not get the right to vote during their time in college. Voter ID laws, although they are intended to protect the results of the election may be causing inaccuracies in the results due to this issue with college students.
Another potential issue for college students when it comes to voting and voter registration is the difference in age requirements across the country. Some states allow citizens to register when they are 17, some states require that states must be 18 by the month of the election, some states require that citizens must be 18 to register and some states even have specific regulations such as, citizens must be at least 17.5 years old. This is an issue for students who are not 18 before going to college and for college students who attended college out of state. A problem arises when a student who is not 18 years old attends college in a state with strict age laws. This often keeps young college students from voting in primary elections and registering for early voting. The results of the primary election are crucial and play a large role in deciding who the next elected official will be. If a large numbers of students are kept away from these elections, the results of the final election may be drastically different than they would have been. This issue keeps many college students away from the polls and the 18-24 year old vote is not represented as accurately in many elections.
Along with the previously mentioned issues, many college students also worry about their votes being discarded and not counted in the results of the election. Many college students have to send in an absentee ballots, in any election that they decide to participate in, There have been many instances of college students who registered as an absentee and never received their ballot in the mail being told that they were overlooked by accident or that due to high demand, their ballot was taking longer to arrive. There have also been many instance of college students who have sent in their ballots only to hear that they were not counted because they were “lost in the mail” or that for some other reason their vote was not counted. This makes many college students feel as if their vote doesn‘t count and that discourages them to participate in elections.
Along with these issues with the sending and receiving of ballots, there have also been reports of absentee ballots being tampered with or simply not counted, The issue of absentee ballots heavily affects college voter turnout and affects the results of the election. Although the regulations do not directly keep college students from voting, often times they make it more difficult for students to vote while on college campuses which greatly depresses the turnout among college students These laws are important to ensure fairness in the US election system but it is equally important that every citizen feels that their vote is treated equally.
College Voting Obstacles. (2022, Jul 09). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/the-difficulties-to-vote-among-college-students-because-of-voter-registration-rules/
