Responding to Questions on Residency
Michael O'Brien
Posted: 03.27.2008 / 10:44 AM EDT
Some of the comments have raised excellent questions about switching residency and voting as a college student in Michigan. These are interesting questions, and unfortunately, there’s not much oversight or regulation of these practices.As a bit of a personal background: I’m from the Toledo, Ohio area and, in 2004, voted with an absentee ballot in that election (filled out in my University of Michigan dorm room, no less). However, in 2006, I switched my voter registration to Michigan (where I spend more time than Ohio in an entire year), so I could vote in the gubernatorial and ballot initiative elections. (On top of that, the Ohio elections seemed to be increasingly one-sided, that year.)Since then, I’ve voted again in Michigan, in this year’s presidential primary. I have not voted again since in Ohio because, well, election fraud doesn’t seem like a good idea. However, the way election law is communicated to students can be quite confusing. In the coming days, I’ll be contacting people on campus and in the state who might be able to answer your questions in a more specific way.
