Out-of-state students face inconsistent experiences voting from California ahead of 2026 primary elections

Tuesday marks the start of the 2026 primary elections, and for some Trojans that means figuring how to cast their ballot back home.

With primary elections in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas taking place on Tuesday, USC students who call those states home are left to navigate an increasingly complicated process to vote.

Jackson Mills, a sophomore journalism major from Little Rock, Arkansas, is registered to vote in his home state. As a USC student, he casts his vote through an absentee ballot.

Mills said he relies on his mother back home to ensure his ballot is properly submitted and counted in the election.

“I was lucky because I lived in a bigger city where voting was much more accessible,” Mills said. “Arkansas, broadly, though, we had one of the worst voter turnouts.”

Mills also pointed to the barriers facing voters in rural areas of the state.

“In a lot of more rural parts of Arkansas, or just non-major areas, people often are either working on election day,” Mills said. “There’s not really a lot of breaks being given to them so they can access the polls.”

Arkansas has historically struggled with voter turnout, particularly in rural communities where polling locations may be limited and transportation can be a challenge.

Incumbent Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who has served since 2010, remains a central figure in the state’s Republican politics. On the opposite side, Ethan Dunbar and Hallie Shoffner are running for the Democratic party.

“Voting accessibility is kind of a crucial issue that politicians need to focus on,” Mills said. “In states like Arkansas, I think a lot of times people may have a perception of Arkansas as this extremely conservative, kind of extremely backward state. That, at least in my experience, is not always true.”

Mills believes expanding access to voting in the state would help provide broader representation.

“I think we should be doing everything in our power to ensure that people who have to work on Election Day, people who have kids to take care of, people who live really far away from polling centers, that those things are as accessible as possible to them,” he said.

In Texas, longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn is fighting to hold onto his seat for a fifth term. Cornyn faces a competitive primary challenge from state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is airing ads linking himself closely with President Donald Trump, according to The Los Angeles Times. Rep. Wesley Hunt is also challenging Cornyn from the right, in a race that has drawn nearly $100 million in advertising, according to NBC News.

On the Democratic side, a record number of voters have turned out in a primary contest between Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico, who has positioned himself as a candidate appealing to moderates, according to The New York Times.

Voting looks different for Derick Walker, a senior computer science major from Amarillo, Texas. Walker registered to vote in California.

“I did register briefly in Texas before I moved, but I don’t think I voted on anything,” Walker said. “And then once I got to California, more pressing matters, like the presidential election came up, and then I realized I should vote on those things.”

Walker said he hasn’t personally encountered barriers to registering to vote, but he has heard concerns from other voters in Texas about mail-in voting timelines.

“I have heard that mail-in ballots are a pain,” he said. “They need to be received super early.”

Deadlines and restrictions for mail-in ballots can disproportionately affect students and out-of-state voters who rely on absentee voting to participate.

North Carolina’s Senate race is also drawing attention. Michael Whatley, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee is facing former Gov. Roy Cooper. The Democratic party hopes that Cooper’s brand will help the party at the voting booth. The last time the Democratic party won a Senate race in North Carolina was in 2008, when then-State Senator Kay Hagan defeated incumbent Elizabeth Dole.

As states like Texas, Arkansas and North Carolina hold high-stakes primaries, voter accessibility remains a key factor in determining who participates in the Democratic process.

For many students balancing coursework, jobs and distance from home, the method of voting, whether in person or by mail, can shape whether they participate at all.

Kambiz Akhatan, the managing director of the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, said participating in the voting process is important, regardless of a state’s election rules. Still, states determining their own election rules mean California and Texas have unequal identification requirements at polling places.

“Whether or not states should decide these rules for themselves and whether or not Voter ID laws are fair are both debatable topics,” Akhatan said in a statement to Annenberg Media. “The most important thing is that people vote.”

Celene Agahi contributed to the reporting of this story.