Some Virginia college students from swing states say they're choosing to vote via mail at home, instead of at school.
“Electorally, it makes more sense to vote in Pennsylvania for me because we are the swing state this year,” said Benjamin Stalder, a University of Richmond senior from Pittsburgh.
Stalder said he's participated in every election since he turned 18, when he voted in his home state before moving to Virginia for college. Alongside Pennsylvania's status as a swing state, he also attributed his decision to vote via mail to his plans to move back after college.
“I’m convinced P.A. will decide the election, and I would like to have my voice into what Pennsylvania says,” Stalder said.
For Caroline Harkless, another University of Richmond student, the decision to vote in Wisconsin stems from a familiarity with local politics and the competitiveness of her home state.
Harkless is from Mequon, a town outside Milwaukee. She considers the state highly competitive after seeing her usually apathetic neighbors putting political signs in their yard and hearing NBC’s Steve Kornacki do a deep dive on the political history of her district.
“There were Trump signs across from Biden signs; it’s very much split 50/50,” Harkless said.
While she narrowly missed the age eligibility to vote in the 2020 elections, Harkless has since voted in all local elections — including for school board — in her home state.
“I find the local elections to honestly be sometimes more impactful than these larger elections,” Harkless said.
While recognizing that a president would affect the whole nation, she said her vote is especially important in Wisconsin.
“The way that our current system is with the Electoral College, my vote matters much more than other states,” Harkless said.
For other out-of-state students, choosing to vote in their home states comes from the familiarity with local politics and the inconvenience of re-registering to vote.
“I haven’t met a single person who’s out-of-state and is voting in person,” said Will McKean, a first-year at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
McKean said his decision to vote via mail came down to advice he received from his parents amid the issues he faced while registering to vote. He also cited the convenience of mail-in voting, as well as the lack of information available about voting in Virginia. In addition, his incentive to vote in North Carolina came from the competitiveness of the state in the upcoming elections.
“My choice to vote mail-in absentee was primarily out of convenience," he said. "[B]ut my motivation to vote itself came from the fact that North Carolina is a swing state.”
Kira Miller, a first-time voter who moved to Virginia for college at the University of Richmond, voted via mail in her home district in Maine. Like McKean, her decision to vote absentee came down to convenience after receiving support from her mother during the registration process.
“I did question if maybe I should do it in Virginia, because I think Virginia is a bit more of a swing state than Maine is, and I think my vote could have been valuable,” Miller said.
In recognizing the impact that Virginian legislation can have on her, she has considered re-registering in Virginia for subsequent elections.
For some students, the impact of Virginia laws on students motivated their decision to re-register in the commonwealth.
“I wanted to make sure that as many students as possible that live in Virginia for the majority of the year, their voices are heard in the area,” said Lydia Matthews, a junior at the University of Virginia.
She previously voted mail-in for the 2022 Alabama elections in her home city of Decatur. But she decided to re-register in Virginia to help represent student voices in the state. She added that Alabama only has a few contests on the ballot this cycle.
“None of my state representatives or federal representatives are up for re-election. If they were, that might have changed what I was doing,” she said.
For Matthews, re-registration was as simple as approaching a voting registration table at a Charlottesville farmers market. She said there were significant efforts by students and the Karsh Institute for Democracy to encourage students to vote.
“We wanted to ensure that they knew that they didn’t have to necessarily vote in Virginia, but they could vote in their home state,” said Liberty Jenkins-Wilson, the political action chair of the University of Richmond chapter of the NAACP.
The organization recently hosted an absentee voting information session, providing students in Richmond with registration information and resources. Jenkins-Wilson noted that there was a split in student opinion over voting locations after the event.
“A lot of people do vote in their home state, but some people did want to vote in Virginia because that’s where they are most of the year,” she said.
Jenkins-Wilson, a first-time voter, cast her ballot via mail to her home state of Delaware, saying familiarity with local politics and confusion over Virginia politics contributed to her decision.
“I’m just a little bit more familiar with Delaware politics,” she said. “I know the legislators, the senators, and I agree with their legislation a little bit more.”