With more than 37,000 MSU students coming from various cities within Michigan, some have decided to use absentee ballots to make their voices heard.

Others say the process takes up too much of their time, so they won’t bother selecting candidates next week.

Jeff Oudsema says he misses the option that allowed him to vote as an East Lansing resident while at MSU without changing his permanent address. With the passage of Senate Bill 306 in 1999, voters must adjust their permanent addresses if they wish to vote in person while at school.

“I care a lot more about who’s in office here because I see how that affects students here, but I haven’t changed my permanent address because I don’t want to go through that,” said Oudsema, a political science senior, who lives on Charles Street.

The Kalamazoo resident said if students had more of an opportunity to vote, the community would improve.

“I’ve seen, especially in the last couple years, the students have gotten ill representation,” he said.

Absentee ballots are available to citizens who are registered to vote for this election before the Oct. 7 cutoff, but won’t be able to vote in their home precinct on Election Day. Voters also can request a ballot for various other reasons, including physical disabilities. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is 2 p.m. Saturday.

East Lansing City Clerk Sharon Reid said 1,696 absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 election had been issued by the city as of Tuesday night.

Reid says she expects that number to grow significantly by Monday night.

“We have people walking in all the time,” she said. “There are several days left.”

For the Aug. 6 primary election, 1,486 absentee ballots were issued, Reid said.

Both numbers are down considerably from the 2000 presidential election, for which the city issued 2,383 absentee ballots.

Reid said she thinks many students use the option of voting absentee, but not necessarily through East Lansing. She said East Lansing and many other municipalities try to make obtaining an absentee ballot as easy as possible.

Allison Perry, a no-preference sophomore from Royal Oak, said she registered to vote in her hometown but won’t be voting Tuesday.

“I’ve been getting e-mail about getting an absentee ballot, but I’m lazy and haven’t gotten around to it,” she said. “It’s in a week. I’ve got two midterms - it’s the least of my worries.”

Amelia Forczak, an advertising freshman who lives in Holden Hall, said it’s easier to get information about candidates in MSU’s district because students are better informed about them.

“I figured, I live up here so I might as well register to vote up here,” she said.

Jared English, ASMSU’s director of university, governmental and budgetary affairs, said he has worked closely with a project called YouVote to register and educate student voters. The effort’s Web site is www.youvote.msu.edu.

“A lot of students at MSU are registered at their campus addresses,” he said. “Students as a whole, everyone I’ve talked to, have done an absentee ballot. But incoming freshman have probably done it on campus.”

English said obtaining an absentee ballot is not difficult, but some city clerks have stricter rules than others.

“It depends on the clerk, some you can just call in and request, some you actually have to fill out a form,” he said.

Megan Frye can be reached at fryemega@msu.edu. Chad Previch can be reached at previchc@msu.edu.