Even though recent voting laws require people to vote at the location on their driver’s license, students should not be negatively affected.
City officials say some students who registered Oct. 10, the last day to register, may not receive voter registration cards before today’s election. Those students may still vote in the election, they just need to show their driver’s license at the precinct where they are registered to vote.
East Lansing Clerk Sue Donnell said she has been very busy changing addresses for students.
“The tremendous amount of calls have been a good indicator that students don’t know where to vote,” Donnell said. “They need to realize that they don’t need a registration card to vote, all that does is tell the person which precinct they need to go to.”
With some confusion still lingering, students should report to the precinct on their voter registration card or call the clerk at 337-1731.
Elizabeth Boyd, spokeswoman for the secretary of state, said it shouldn’t be complicated for students to vote if they are registered.
“If they are registered in East Lansing, they can vote today,” Boyd said. “It isn’t as difficult as some students may think, they just need to make sure they stay on top of their address changes.”
Boyd said the only way voting may become problematic is if a voter registers in East Lansing while their driver’s license address is elsewhere, because the secretary of state will then automatically change their driver’s license address to match.
“It is up to students or any person to keep their license updated,” Boyd said. “Since the election is right in front of us, we would hope they would have already thought about address changes.”
The one-address law is keeping with the National Voter Registration Act, which states a registered voter may only have one place of residence. The law, however, which was implemented April 1, has inconvenienced some students.
Kim Sutton, a journalism junior, said she thinks fewer students will vote if they do not receive their voter registration card.
“Students have become apathetic about voting because of issues like these,” Sutton said. “When my brother graduated from State, he was automatically kicked off the East Lansing list of registered voters.”
Another student said she noticed a lot of students registering at the local secretary of state office when she registered the last day. She may be one of the students who does not receive a registration card.
“Some students who don’t receive a card may be a little confused,” said Leigh Fifelski, a journalism senior. “If they took the initiative to go change their addresses, I would think they would be assertive enough to find out where to go.”
