With the 2018 midterm elections coming up, you’ve probably seen the tables around campus about registering to vote, or you’ve been approached by someone asking you if you’ve registered to vote in Colorado yet. However, if you’re an out-of-state student like me, you might be conflicted about whether to register to vote in Colorado or to vote in your home state via absentee ballot. When I answered one of the people trying to get students to register to vote that I was from out of state, I was told that wasn’t a problem and was urged to register to vote in Colorado anyway. However, students shouldn’t feel obligated to vote in Colorado if they are from out of state. They should choose to vote in whichever state they feel most aligned with, whether that be their home state or Colorado.
When you are an out-of-state student at DU, it’s easy to get pressured into almost forgetting everything to do with your home state and conforming to the culture of Denver and Colorado. But many out-of-state students will not end up living in Colorado after they graduate; a large number will return home after college. Which begs the question—should you choose to cast your ballot in a state where ultimately the decisions made through voting will not affect you in the long run?
However, if you are from a state where you are almost certain your vote will not matter in the outcome of the election, deciding to register to vote in Colorado is a very valid choice. Many southern and midwestern states are almost guaranteed to go red, and there is very little that can be done about it unless voter turnout suddenly reaches near 100 percent. So any student should definitely consider the pros and cons of voting in Colorado or via absentee ballot in their home state, but they shouldn’t feel obligated to pick one over the other.
I am personally a strong proponent of absentee ballots. I am from Texas originally, and even though I am not sure I will live there after college, I feel like it is more pertinent to vote there than in Colorado. Colorado is a swing state, while Texas goes red a lot of the time—though the large cities almost always go blue. But Texas has had many close races in the past few years, and with the opportunity to vote Ted Cruz out of office, I believe my vote is more valuable there than in Colorado, where there is a higher percentage that usually vote Democratic than in Texas. While polls are not a guaranteed measure of what the outcome of an election will be, the polls in Texas are very close. If there is a chance my vote could help push that race over the edge, I want to take it.
If you do not know how to register for an absentee ballot, you can go to www.vote.org/absentee-ballot/ or visit the website of your county clerk and put in your information, and they will send you a physical form to fill out, which you can then send off and they will send you your absentee ballot once your form is processed. It’s a very easy process, and there should be more guides available at DU to students who want to vote this way.
The 2018 midterms are a very important election, and it’s more pertinent than ever that we as young people get to have a voice in what we want for our country. But because laws and representatives in the US vary from state to state, it’s important to think about where you want your vote to count.
