<p>Hi, sorry if this is a stupid question, but if you are a citizen of another state but are going to go to school in Chicago, do you register to vote in your home state or in Illinois? Assuming that you do not plan on getting a drivers’ license or official ID from Illinois, and that you will be in Illinois during election time.</p>
<p>It’s not a stupid question at all. Basically, under current law, college students pretty much get to choose where they want to register to vote, home or college, as long as they don’t vote both places. If you register to vote in Chicago, that doesn’t mean you have to get an Illinois driver’s license, or that you cease to qualify as a resident of your home state.</p>
<p>On the other hand, there may be some consequences to registering to vote in Chicago. Believe it or not, but there’s no hard-and-fast system for determining which state any person is a resident of at any particular time. If the issue comes up – say, you have a car, and it’s registered in Arizona, not Illinois, but you have an accident in Chicago and the insurance company says that they don’t have to pay because you didn’t tell them you had moved – your Illinois voter registration may be used as evidence that you are really an Illinois resident. (But alone it wouldn’t be determinative at all.) Also, lots of places use voter registrations to fill jury pools, so once you register to vote you may get called for jury duty wherever you register.</p>
<p>People sometimes shift their registration back and forth, depending on which elections interest them. Illinois had a somewhat interesting Senate election to replace Obama, but for the most part the outcome of any election you might vote in as a Chicago voter is going to be fairly predetermined. Or at least it has been for a while. My kids have barely been here the past four years, but until recently they both were registered to vote where they grew up because the elections were closer and they understood the politics better.</p>
<p>not at all a stupid question. You can register in either one that you choose, as long as you select only one. Although there have been cases of people registering in both, you are only permitted to register in one. That said, I would personally register in whichever one my vote counts more for. If you want any help registering, you can check out <a href=“https://registertovote.org/[/url]”>https://registertovote.org/</a> which is a good site that I can think of. Peace and good luck with the election</p>
<p>If you are living in Hyde Park, register at least thirty days before the election at 69 W. Washington…it’s across the street from the Picasso/the Daley Center.</p>
<p>Yes, you can register to vote at driver’s license place or public library. Why add another layer to screw up? Just stop by the Chicago Board of Elections when you are downtown for some fun reason. Take a photo ID and some mail with your Hyde Park address.</p>
<pre><code>Chicago Board of Elections website shows there is an election next March. And why not volunteer to be a Judge of Elections? A four hour training class and you’re in. Get paid for the training and for election day. Be there at 5am and stay until the results are transmitted to the Board…sometime after 7pm.
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<p>And you totally can do that. I’m sure most students do. But lots of students also get involved in local politics – maybe not their first year, but as time goes on – and they want to participate as voters, too. </p>
<p>Plus, sometimes students register at college so their votes count more (or vice versa). If you come from Idaho, or Mississippi, or Vermont, it’s not likely anyone is going to notice your 2012 Presidential vote much, but in Illinois (or Ohio, or Pennsylvania) it could actually matter. And I’ll bet students at Dartmouth, or Grinnell, or College of Charleston register at college a lot going into next year. Voting in a Presidential primary in New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina is a lot more fun than voting in the primary in New York or California.</p>
<p>Yes, you can vote by absentee ballot. Remember to request one and remember to get it back to the Chicago Board of Elections (69 W. Washington) on time.</p>
<p>There is early voting in Cook County…a three week period before the election and each ward has a polling place plus the one at the Chicago Board of Elections downtown. You must bring a government issued photo ID, like your driver’s license or state ID card. If you are registered to vote in Chicago, you can go to any ward in Chicago to early vote. You don’t have to vote in your own ward. On election day you can only vote in your own polling place. </p>
<pre><code> The rest of Cook County is a separate voting fiefdom. If you are registered to vote in Cook County but not Chicago, you can early vote in any of those elsewhere in Cook County pollling places but not in Chicago. So if you go to NU and register at your Evanston address, no, you cannot early vote in Rogers Park or Hyde Park or in Chicago at all. Even if your Dad says you can because Chicago is part of Cook County. He’s wrong.
Early voting is by touch screen only. No paper ballots.
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<p>This is a no politics thread.</p>
<p>haha Romney wont win IL. Have you forgotten the home state of the other guy??</p>
<p>And GA is no longer a solid red (Obama 47% in 2008) with the growing Latino population. And with Romney being a Mormon, the deep south may be less enthused by him. I would suggest as a Republican to vote in GA instead; IL is a lost cause, while GA is one you cant afford to lose</p>
<p>Neither Illinois or Georgia (which McCain won by a margin of 5 points–a sizable margin in the land of presidential elections–even in the midst of an Obama landslide) is going to be competitive in 2012 unless there’s a blowout, and in that case your vote won’t matter anyway, in any state.</p>
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<p>I actually know quite a few first-years who were very active in local politics. Buffing up that resume, I guess. (No, I kid–I admire their energy, especially as I don’t have it.)</p>