College students may move frequently, but they don't move far - and that has the potential to complicate voter registration.
Because students can move each year but stay within the same county, it can be easy to get around re-registering. But if students do not re-register with their current addresses, a citywide audit could look suspicious and election-day confusion could occur.
Although in some cases it is possible for students to vote at their former polling places, Fox Leadership is encouraging students to change their voter registration to match their current addresses.
"If you have moved within your county, you can vote once at your former location and when you appear at the polls, you inform them that you have moved," Fox Leadership executive director Joe Tierney said.
However, Tierney recommends re-registering "even if you meet this eligibility criteria."
"We strongly encourage folks to re-register at their current place of residence," he said.
College senior Stephanie Simon, a member of Penn Leads the Vote's executive board, said it is important for students to update their voter-registration forms when they move to prevent complicating city voting records.
"If the election is audited by the city and more people are registered at one place than could actually live there, it would look weird," Simon added.
Re-registering can also help reduce confusion on election day.
"People don't always remember where they are registered, so if you register now at your current address, you will know where to vote," Simon said.
Tierney said he is not inside the polls on election day, so he hasn't witnessed people having problems with their voter registration, but he "anecdotally heard that people don't always know where to vote."
Another way Penn Leads the Vote is dealing with this confusion is by having a table on College Green on election day where students can find out where they are registered, according to Simon.
Since the voter-registration deadline still hasn't passed, "we want people to register at their address," Simon said.
College and Engineering junior Andrew Perlman, who was registered in the Quad freshman year and moved sophomore year, changed his voter registration before this spring's primaries because he was stopped by someone on Locust Walk.
