I'm a college student - where should I vote?

University bus
Students can choose to vote locally or vote absentee in their home districts.
MPR Photo/Tim Post

Minnesota makes it pretty easy to register to vote. As a student, you can register using either your college or home address, whichever you consider your primary residence. Laura Huiras, a junior at the College of St. Benedict, is originally from Sleepy Eye in southern Minnesota, but she's voting in St. Joseph.

"The majority of my time during the election is spent in this district, and not in my home district," Huiras said. "I live here 9 months out of the year, and so I felt it was more beneficial to vote in this district."

But what if you're an out-of-state student?

You can register to vote absentee in your home state or in your college town, like Brian Wieliczka. He's a freshman at St. John's University in Collegeville.

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"As someone from Kansas City, I am taking advantage of the same day registration process here in Minnesota because I think my vote will be more influential here than it is in a traditionally Republican state," Wieliczka said.

You can still vote absentee as a Minnesota resident if your home is far away from your college. And, if you missed the deadline to register as an absentee voter, like Joal Reeves, another student at St. Ben's, just show up at the polling place in your school's precinct on Election Day, register and vote. Reeves is voting in St. Joseph, even though she really wanted to vote in Minneapolis.

"And even if I'm acting in Minneapolis or I'm acting on campus, it doesn't matter [where I vote]," Reeves said. "I want my president to represent me and to represent the United States of America and I want this country to improve. And so if I want that to happen, I need to be able to be in that process and make sure my voice is heard and I think this election is a great way to do that."

Reeves will be part of what could be the largest youth voter turnout in American history.