UT Students may not be able to vote at their assigned voting precinct back home on Election Day in November but there is another way to exercise their right to vote: absentee ballots.
An absentee ballot is a paper ballot that a student must apply for at least 7 days before the election by calling, mailing or faxing the county clerk’s office where they’re registered. For the ballot to be counted in the election results it must be returned to the county clerk’s office by 6 p.m. local time on Nov. 4, Election Day.
Not everyone can qualify for a mail-in absentee ballot. Citizens must be of advanced age with a disability or illness, military personnel or their dependents, an overseas citizen, a voter who temporarily resides out of state such as a vacationer, someone who is incarcerated but not yet convicted, a citizen whose employment takes them out of their county during all of the hours the polling place is open, or a student who temporarily resides outside of the county.
Another option is to use a voting machine made available at the county clerk’s office to any individual traveling out of the county on Election Day. These are available around 12 days before polls open. Jim Reed at the Hillsborough County court house says he thinks the primary reason people request absentee ballots is because it’s much more convenient for them as opposed to waiting in line at the precincts. Reed also says that requests for absentee ballots have increased greatly in the past ten years because education on the actual elections and voting options have become easier to explore.
“Now that everyone has access to the Internet, it’s much easier for voters to research the candidates and discover other voting options,” Reed said.
Many areas present the option to vote in public libraries around two weeks before the actual Election Day. The Internet has made it easy to research the candidates and absentee ballots have made it trouble-free to cast your vote. Now that students are learning more about their country and developing stronger views and opinions voting needs to become a necessity in their lives.
A great website to explore the candidates and their views is http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/candidates. To find out about how to attain an absentee ballot, contact the county clerk’s office.