GA College Student Voting Guide — Non-Partisan Edition.

Registration, Change of Address, Absentee Ballots, Early Voting, Election Day Voting

**Registration — Deadline October 7th. **I highly recommend registering at your college address, not your home address, because it will make it much, much, much easier for you to get to the polls. Voting in person is much more reliable than trusting the mail with an absentee ballot

Registering If You Have a Valid Georgia Driver’s License, Permit, or State Voter ID. You can register online.

You will need your license/permit/ID number, your residential address, and, if it’s different, your mailing address. Often if you are living in a college dorm you have two addresses — your Box number at the college post office (mailing) and your dorm address (residential). You probably have an email from the college with this info, if not ask around ’til you figure it out.

You literally just fill out this form online with your name, address, ID number and date of birth and you’re done. It will take less than 5 minutes. Do it NOW.

Registering If You Do NOT Have a Valid Georgia License/Permit/Voter ID. You need to use a paper form.

And that means you need a printer — they’re in the library. I know this is intimidating but I swear to you, librarians are the nicest people in the world and want to help you with this. They may also have voter registration forms already available for you or know where to get them on campus, in which case you can skip the printer. Bonus -the preprinted forms include an envelope and don’t need postage. Try to find one if you can.

Instead of your driver’s license ID number, you’re going to register using the last 4 digits of your social security number. And as above, your name, address(es), and date of birth.

You are not required to include a copy of an ID but if you have access to a copier, it’s a good idea to do it. If you don’t you’ll just show ID when you vote in person, but you’re going to do that anyhow, so it’s not a big deal one way or the other. Photocopy the ID and include it in the envelope with the registration form.

If you go to a Georgia STATE school, you can use your student ID for this. So, UGA, Savannah State, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw, etc.— those are good. You CANNOT use ID from a private school like SCAD or Emory. In that case, you can use a valid out-of-state driver’s license, a US Passport, a military ID — basically any photo ID issued by a US State or Federal government. (If you do not have government-issued photo ID, you can use a bank statement, utility bill, paycheck, or government document that shows your current address.)

NB: You do NOT need to change your driver’s license to Georgia if you’re from out-of-state. If you are going to college here and want to vote here, you can. Your ID does NOT need to have your local address on it.

The completed form must be either hand delivered to your Board of Registrars or mailed to: Secretary of State State of Georgia PO Box 105325 Atlanta, GA 30348–9562 Again, if you can get a pre-printed form it comes with a handy pre-addressed postage-paid envelope

Changing Your Address to Vote At College in Georgia If you are already registered to vote in Georgia but are at college in state but away from home, you can change your address to your college address. This will make it easier for you to vote because you don’t have to worry about the mail or about getting home. Also, you live where you live and your local legislators affect you now — housing, public safety, parks, traffic — that affects your life.

Just log in to your record on your GA My Voter Page and click on that big blue button under Personal Information titled “Update Voter Information.” On the next screen you’ll see an Edit button on the upper right. Now just put in your college address — again, you may have both a residential address and a mailing address, if so, enter them both. You do not need ID or proof of address to do this.

If you already registered outside of Georgia, you would just fill out a normal voter registration form as above. You do not need to cancel your home registration — that will eventually happen automatically. It is very illegal to vote in two places, so don’t do that.

Requesting A Georgia Absentee Ballot aka Voting by Mail — October 29th Deadline but Try to Do This by October 10th.

This requires a printer. It’s in the library. Go ask a librarian for help. You are also going to need either your Georgia driver’s license/permit/voter ID number or other government-issued photo ID.

If you are registered to vote in Georgia and going to college out-of-state, you can request an absentee ballot for the Nov. 5th General Election here. It’s an online form where you’re going to enter your home address as your residential address and your college mailing address as your temporary address. Once you fill out the fields online, it’s going to create a PDF that you need to print out and SIGN. Signing it is very important.

Once you print it out and sign it, you’re going to take photos of both pages. If you have a valid GA driver’s license, permit, or voter ID, you entered that ID number and you don’t need to include a picture of your ID. If you do NOT have a GA license/permit/voter ID you’re going to lay your photo ID on top of the form and include it in the photo. This can be a college ID from a STATE college, an out-of-state driver’s license, US passport, or military ID.

Now that you have your pics, you’re going to upload those to the website where you filled out the form. That’s it, mission accomplished.

Technically you have until October 29th to request an absentee ballot, but given that is has to be processed, mailed to you, and then you have to mail it back, and if it doesn’t arrive by November 5th it doesn’t count, I would suggest you request it RIGHT NOW. Give yourself an October 10th deadline to get this done, but NOW is better.

Using an Absentee Ballot — Mail It Back As Soon As You Get It Once you’ve requested the ballot, in about a week or two, you should check your My Voter Page to make sure it’s showing up as requested. If it’s not, and two weeks have past, contact your Board of Registrars to make sure they got your request. Definitely do this before the request deadline of October 29th.

Absentee Ballots will start being mailed out on October 5th, so check your mailbox for it regularly. You’re going to want to fill it out and return it as soon as you possibly can. Two crucial things: 1. There will be a spot on one of the envelopes to date and sign. If you don’t do this, they will toss your ballot out. 2. If your ballot arrives after Election Day November 5th, they will toss it out. The postmark doesn’t matter. So make sure to follow the directions meticulously and to mail it back as soon as you possibly can. If the timing is tight, you can pay the post office for Priority or Overnight mail but that will cost you. Priority Mail takes 1–3 business days and is about $10. Two days guaranteed is around $30.

If you log into your My Voter Page record it will say whether your absentee ballot has been mailed to you yet, and whether it’s been received back from you.

MAKE A PLAN TO VOTE You might have an early voting location on or near campus- find out the dates and times on your My Voter Page. You might need to get a ride to the polls if your early voting location or your voting day location is not in walking distance. Your school is probably going to arrange rides to the polls in that case. Ask your RA or librarian about it.

Voting in Person — Either Early on On Election Day. You can log into your My Voter Page to find the locations, dates, and times of Early Voting and of Election Day Voting. For Early Voting you can go anywhere in your county. For Election Day Voting, you MUST go to YOUR precinct.

On Election Day polls will be open from 7am to 7pm.If you are in line by 7pm, they have to let you vote. If you show up at 7:01pm, you will not be voting.

Some Georgia state schools have early voting on campus, including Georgia Tech, UGA, and Georgia Southern Statesboro. Early voting is a really good idea because if there is any problem with your voter registration you will find out early and have time to fix it. Also, it means you don’t have to worry about anything happening to screw up your election day plans. Early voting, especially weekend voting, can be very busy, so come prepared to wait.

Wanna see how the machines work? Here’s a video.

Bring photo ID with you — this is any state or federal government-issued photo ID, including your student ID if you go to a state school.

Do NOT wear any campaign clothing. Not a pin on your bag. Electioneering is not allowed within 150 feet of a polling place and that includes your t-shirt. Generally the poll workers will just ask you to turn it inside out, but that’s awkward.

You cannot have a cellphone out while you are voting, so if you need a cheat sheet of who to vote for down ballot, write it out. Paper is fine, phones are not.

Be prepared to wait. Bring water and snacks. Go with a friend.

If you have any trouble, call or text the Election Protection Hotline — 866-OUR-VOTE aka 866–687–8683.

Some School-Specific Info: SSU Students — check out www.ssuvotes.com and follow @votewithssu on insta. There will be info on registering, rides to the polls, etc. You do not have a voting location on campus so will need a plan to get to the polls. Georgia Southern Statesboro Students — Early voting will be held at the Russell Union Ballroom, but I can’t find times and dates yet. Check here for updates. Georgia Southern Armstrong Students — No early voting location on campus, so you’ll need a plan to get the polls . Georgia Tech Students — here’s info on voter registration events AND you will have an early voting location on campus at the John Lewis Student Center on Oct 24th and 25th. UGA Students — early voting will be at the Tate Center, 45 Baxter St., Monday, Oct 28th — Tuesday, Oct 29th from 7:00 AM — 5:00 PM; Wednesday, Oct 30th from 7:00 AM — 7:00 PM SCAD Students — There’s early voting at the Civic Center, 301 W. Oglethorpe Ave (right by Crites Hall), every day from Oct. 15th — Nov. 1st, 8am — 6pm.