Voter Registration Deadlines
With the start of the 2008 election year, institutions of higher education must engage in certain voter registration activities in preparation for the upcoming national and state gubernatorial elections. The 1998 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 mandates that institutions must distribute mail-in voter registration forms and make such forms widely available to students in years when there are elections for federal office, governor or other chief executives within the state [HEA Section 487(a)(23)].
In accordance with the statute, institutions must request a sufficient number of voter registration forms from the state in which the campus is located 120 days prior to that state's registration deadline for all students enrolled in a degree- or certificate-seeking program and physically in attendance at the institution. Institutions must distribute the forms to students no less than 60 days before the voter registration deadline. The institution will not be held liable, however, if a state fails to provide a sufficient number of forms at least 60 days prior to that state's registration deadline.
AACRAO has compiled a list of voter registration deadline information to assist campuses in distributing voter registration forms to all students. The list includes state voter registration deadlines, State Elections Division contact information, links to online state registration forms and deadlines for institutions to request and distribute mail-in registration forms.
In addition, AACRAO strongly urges institutions to electronically distribute the national voter registration form, which allows students to register to vote from anywhere in the United States.*
Congress recently allowed for institutions to satisfy the compliance requirements of the law through electronic distribution of their state's voter registration form or the posting of an internet address where such a form can be downloaded.
* Note the following exceptions: New Hampshire town and city clerks will only accept this application as a request for their own mail-in absentee voter registration form. North Dakota does not have voter registration. Wyoming cannot accept this form under state law.