Making it easier for students to vote

Attention Michigan college students: Voting may be easier than you think.

County clerks across Michigan have temporarily deputized each other so that first-time voters who registered by mail (and therefore must prove their identity to the state when they vote) can apply for an absentee ballot at the county clerk’s office nearest their campus address, instead of driving back to their parents or “permanent” address away from campus on Election Day or earlier to apply in person for an absentee ballot there.

The unusual collaboration by county clerks is an effort to work around a state law that many clerks believe disenfranchises students by requiring them to travel to the county clerk’s office in their hometown to present ID and apply for an absentee ballot.

But students who wish to take advantage of this unique red-tape sidestep in order to vote, should see their local county clerk this week if they want to have their vote counted.

This is because absentee ballots have to be mailed from a different county, filled out and returned to the local county office, all by Nov. 4.

Mike Bryanton is the clerk of Ingham County, which is home to Michigan State University and over 40,000 students.

When the new voter goes to the deputized local clerk, Bryanton explains, that clerk will call the clerk in the new voter’s home county. The would-be, first-time voter must allow enough time so he can receive the ballot by mail, vote it and send it back so it arrives by Election Day. Bryanton said this will work if people take advantage of the opportunity by visiting a participating deputized clerk on or before this Friday.

“A large number of those [MSU students], I believe, are registered somewhere else,” Bryanton said. “If [students] registered by mail, they are required to vote in person the first time. By deputizing each other, say somebody from Saginaw had asked for an absentee ballot. He or she could come into the office, we would verify ID and call their local clerk so they would meet the identify-verification requirement. It would be the same as them walking into the Saginaw County clerk’s office.”

But with Election Day only two weeks away, time for receiving and sending back an absentee ballot is growing short.

And despite the large number of students in the county, Bryanton said, “I have not been called on to do this once.”

Students are apparently unaware that they can now apply for an absentee ballot at their local clerk’s office.

Mike Webber is student assembly chairperson for the Associated Students of Michigan State University, MSU’s student government. Webber told Michigan Messenger that he had not heard of the clerk’s action to help students, that students are very interested in voting in the upcoming election and that some have faced difficulties in registering to vote.

“I’d love to have a conversation with [Bryanton] to see if there is a way to let them know,” Webber said. “I’d be happy to distribute flyers to let students know about the process of absentee voting.”

At the University of Michigan, Linda Hancock Green, director of communications for student affairs, said students at UM might be interested to know that they can apply for an absentee ballot at the local clerk’s office.

“We have had a huge voter registration effort,” she said. “We distributed voter registration forms in all of the residence halls … You couldn’t hardly walk across campus without someone with a clipboard asking you if you were a registered voter — right up until the registration deadline.”

Green said that because first-time voters must vote in person under Michigan law, some students have chosen to register at their college address.