The upcoming midterm election is likely to see voters who are voting for the first time.
Nationally, 800,000 voters have been registered this election cycle compared to 154,500 in 2014, according to Time magazine.
About 13.4 percent of freshman students who attend OU are from out-of-state, according to the Ohio University Office of Institutional Research 2018 report.
Out-of state voters have the option to either change their address to vote in Ohio or vote absentee in their home state, Athens Board of Elections Director Debbie Quivey said.
“I knew more about my home election, and it’s a pretty big election for Florida this year,” Sydney Borsellino, a freshman studying sociology and a first-time voter, said. “So I decided to vote absentee in this midterm.”
Nationally, about 51 percent of millennials voted in 2016, according to Pew Research Center. In Ohio, about 10 percent of people ages 18 to 24 vote on average, according to the Ohio Voter Project.
In-state students who want to vote in Athens but did not change their address can still vote in Athens using a provisional ballot, Quivey said. Out-of-state voters cannot vote provisionally.
“For convenience, I am voting in Athens.” Cody Pomeroy, a senior studying media arts, said. Pomeroy is an in-state student.
Out-of-state voters had to be registered by Oct. 9. The amount of out-of-state voters who vote in Ohio in unknown, Quivey said.
“I am voting in Georgia because that is where I still live even though I am (in Ohio) for school,” Rachel Calvis, a freshman studying journalism, said. “Either way, I still think it is very important for people to voice their opinions and views no matter where you are.”
