By Amanda Quintana for Channel3000
Move-out day for Edgewood College and University of Wisconsin-Madison students and primary election day both fall on Aug. 14 this year.
Students are being encouraged to take advantage of absentee and early voting, starting July 30 at local libraries.
With the recent unprecedented excitement and involvement from young students, many hope this hurdle doesn’t stop them from voting.
“It’s pretty clear that young people are fired up and energized enough, and I’m confident that people are going to be turning out to vote in August no matter what the situation is,” said Joe Waldman, NextGen Wisconsin’s regional organizing director for the Madison area.
NextGen Wisconsin helps register students to vote and gives them the tools they need to exercise their political power.
Waldman said having move-out day coincide with election day makes NextGen’s job even more important.
“It’s a task of making sure that everybody knows and has a plan to vote,” he said.
He said students are more engaged in this year’s primary election, which includes candidates for governor, attorney general, secretary of state, and state treasurer, among others.
“I think young people now see the impact that state government and the governor has on us and on things like student debt, college affordability, how the universities are funded,” said Waldman.
UW-Madison junior Ashleigh Perry said most of the civically engaged students know to plan ahead, but some might not know their other voting options.
“If people really realize the importance of this election, I feel like all it will take is just people knowing where to go,” said Perry. “Once people realize they’ll be like, ‘Oh, this is really easy. It really won’t interfere with my move-out day.”
She doesn’t believe this challenge will stop those who want to vote from voting.
To avoid confusion, the City of Madison Clerk let students know changing their address the day of the election does not affect their ability to vote.
