Two years ago, Ruhee Nemawarkar ’26 could not vote in her home state of Texas while she was at Stanford. Now, she’s trying to help out-of-state students navigate the challenges of voting and requesting an absentee ballot.
Back then, she had requested her ballot, but because of how long it took to request and receive her absentee ballot, she ended up not able to cast her vote in the midterm election.
College students generally have the option to register to vote in their hometowns or where they attend college, though the requirements for each state vary. All 50 states plus Washington, D.C., offer absentee or mail-in ballots, but the ease of these processes varies by state. Many voters run into issues with proof of residency, voter identification and absentee ballot use.
In light of challenges like these, StanfordVotes, a non-partisan student-run organization working to help students vote, organized a Get Out the Vote event in White Plaza on Tuesday. The goal was to answer students’ questions regarding absentee ballots and other aspects of the voting process.
“I just don’t think that students that aren’t in Texas shouldn’t have their voice heard just because they’re not in the state right now, which is part of the reason why I was inspired to do this event,” said Nemawarkar, who helped run the event. The junior, who also serves as outreach manager for the Sexual Health Peer Resource Center (SHPRC), said the political debate over reproductive rights motivated her to help more students through the voting process.
“This election is so important, and I know, at Stanford, it can kind of feel like a bubble. So I think it’s important to, first of all, get reminded that you need to get out there and vote,” she added. “I know the process for absentee ballot voting can get really complicated, especially in states that don’t want out-of-state voters to vote.”
Samin Bhan ’28 was one student that received help from the event. Bhan is from North Carolina and said requesting an absentee ballot took him five minutes after he talked through the process with the StanfordVotes tablers.
“There’s just so much information online, so having someone that can give it to you in a streamlined way is really helpful,” Bhan said. “I think if I was on my own Googling, I would have taken much more time and been uncertain as to how to do things.”
Some students have registered to vote before coming to Stanford but are requesting mail-in ballots for the first time. Alexis Li ’28 originally registered to vote when she was a high school senior residing in Arizona, but has encountered issues receiving her mail-in ballot this election cycle. She said she was told her ballot had been sent to her home address, but her family still hasn’t received it and she’s finding it hard to change her address.
New Jersey native Amy Ciu ‘28 said the process to request an absentee ballot was made efficient by the well-organized resources in her state. She requested her absentee ballot when she turned 18 earlier this year and cast her vote early.
While receiving her ballot went smoothly, Ciu said she was initially nervous about returning it.
“Before coming to campus, I wasn’t sure how I would mail it back,” she said. “but around campus, there’s so many USPS boxes and signs about election day saying, ‘Oh, just drop your mail or mail-in ballot off at Tressider or any USPS mailbox.’”
Nearly half of Stanford’s undergraduate population hails from U.S. states other than California. Even among California natives, many cannot travel to their hometown to vote in person. Nemawarkar highlighted the importance of these students’ impact on their hometowns, despite being at Stanford currently.
“I just think it’s really important for Stanford students to remember that, outside of Stanford, they’re a part of their community at home,” Nemawarkar said. “It’s really important that even though they’re here in California right now, that their voices are represented in their hometown.”