From absentee ballots to free rides, local colleges break down barriers to get students voting

[RandySF]

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Getting students to vote is a challenge every college and university contends with. To ensure access to the polls, it’s state law for colleges with students living on campus to have polling places less than a mile away. But a report from the New York Public Interest Research Group calls out the state for 20 colleges, including Nazareth and St. John Fisher universities in Pittsford, that NYPIRG says do not.

News10NBC’s Antonina Tortorello found how area colleges and universities — those on and off — are getting students to the polls.

This may be the first election some college students can vote in, but their closest polling station may be too far away. Some may not even know how to register. But several colleges in the area all told us they are making sure their students can vote.

A Nazareth University spokesperson told us they will provide transportation to polling places. Finger Lakes Community College near Canandaigua and Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva are as well.




https://www.whec.com/top-news/from-absentee-ballots-to-free-rides-local-colleges-break-down-barriers-to-get-students-voting/

[Rhiannon12866]

1. When I was in college, my mother sent me an absentee ballot, most of my fellow students voted absentee

And when I worked for my former congressman, we had parents call in about obtaining absentee ballots for their kids who were away at school. Wouldn't students have to establish residency in the town where the school is located to vote there?