With Election Day less than a week away on Nov. 3, USC students are navigating registration options, mail-in voting and the challenges of voting while attending college far from home.
Chloe Thomas moved from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles for college just two months ago. As a first time voter finding her footing in a new city far from home, she said she has struggled to navigate the mail-in voting process.
“It is quite difficult because there is nowhere on campus to technically ship the vote,” Thomas said.
USC has official Los Angeles County ballot drop boxes on its University Park and Health Sciences campuses, but those boxes are only for California ballots. Students registered in other states must follow their home state’s instructions and generally return their ballots through the postal service.
Thomas said she decided to vote in D.C. because elections outside of presidential races directly affect her own community.
“Mayoral votes often change the structure of your cities, and then also midterms can be very important to help get people out of office or out of Congress,” Thomas said.
Beyond figuring out how to vote, many out-of-state college students face another important decision: where to vote. Some students may choose to switch their registration to California, while others prefer to stay registered in their home state.
“I know I could switch it, but that means then I can’t vote in New Jersey,” said Vince Cirello, a senior majoring in human biology who voted by mail.
“The district is probably more competitive, so my vote matters more,” Cirello said. “It has more pull over there because it’s not super lopsided, whereas if I were to vote here, it’s basically like a throwaway vote.”
Students can use Vote.gov to find registration and mail-in voting information for their home state. Election rules and deadlines vary by state, including whether voters must provide a reason to receive a mail-in ballot.
Thomas, a D.C. resident, didn’t know she could register to vote in California while in college, but after learning about it, she said she would stay registered in D.C. because she frequently goes back home to visit.
Jack Miller, a fourth-year English major from Illinois, said he stays registered at home because he doesn’t know where he’ll live after graduation.
“It’s just been easier to maintain my registration in Illinois,” Miller said. “If I were ever to return, I wouldn’t want to switch again.I try to do my research on the candidates back in Illinois, but obviously I’m here in L.A., so it’s kind of an interesting balance.”
Other students like Erika Akashi, a USC psychology student originally from Hawaii, are registered to vote in California.
“I was 18 when I was able to register, so I just registered for it [in California],” Akashi said.
L.A. County vote centers are open for in-person voting daily from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. through Nov. 2 and open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. Voters can return ballots at any drop box or vote center in the county or by mail with no postage required. Drop boxes will lock at 8 p.m. on Nov. 3.
Edited by Jadon Frank and Benjamin Gamson