The November 6 election day is about a month away. For some collegiettes, this will not be the first election they’ve voted in. But for others, it may be their very first one.
There are a few necessary steps collegiettes must take to ensure they will be able to vote on Nov. 6.
You MUST be registered to vote in order to cast a vote on Election Day in Orlando. REMEMBER: The deadline to register is October 9, so be sure to register before then!
Luckily, the registration process is fairly simple. There are numerous ways to get registered. If you don’t feel like leaving your home, you can register online, and be prepared to use either your driver’s license number, or if you don’t have a license, the last four digits of your Social Security Number.
You can also register on the UCF campus. The College Democrats and Republicans clubs both have tables set up in front of the Student Union every day until the deadline to register. Again, be prepared to use your driver’s license or SS number.
If you haven’t noticed yet, there are also tons of students all around campus asking if other students are registered. If you happen to see someone asking, go ahead and register with them. That way, if you’re clear across campus from the Student Union, you won’t have to walk all the way there.
Perhaps some of you registered to vote in high school back home. So the address you used to register was your home address. Unfortunately, going home to vote would be rather difficult, so there are two things you can do:
1. Request an absentee ballot. You can do this by first verifying your registration and then following the necessary steps to request an absentee ballot. There are different rules with absentee ballots, so be sure to read all the information and follow the directions to ensure your vote gets counted.
2. Or, you can do a “change of address” to be registered in Orange County. This process is exactly the same as registering to vote accept you fill out the address field with your Orlando address. I highly suggest registering to vote this way because sometimes absentee ballots don’t get counted or they get lost.
Also, if you’ve registered in another county and have a voting registration card, Orlando does not give those out. Instead, your driver’s license or SS card act as your registration card. However, you will get some type of notification in the mail that you’ve either registered to vote in Orlando or updated your voter information.
Remember collegiettes, voting registration ends on Oct. 9! You must be registered to vote before then or you will not be able to participate in this year’s election.
Make sure to tell your friends to register to vote and help them with the registration process, too!