Tiger Paw Student Handbook 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
Tiger Paw Student Handbook

Student Voting Guide


 

 

Registration

Voter registration is closed for the ten days before an election in Alabama, so your registration form must be submitted in person to your county election office or postmarked at least eleven days before Election Day.

You may register to vote if you will be 18 by Election Day.

Residency

You may register to vote in Alabama if you are a resident of the state.

At School. If you attend school in Alabama, you can establish residency in Alabama if you have a present intention to remain at your Alabama school address for the time being and to make it your principal home. Any other interpretation of the residency laws is unconstitutional.

At Home. If you leave your Alabama home to attend school, you are expressly allowed to register to vote using your Alabama address. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of your Alabama residency, some judges or officials may view it as such. If you have established residency in another state and are moving back to Alabama with the intent to reside there, you will have to submit the registration form to re-register at home (see Registration section above).

Challenges to Residency. Students have the right to cast a ballot as a resident of Kentucky regardless of whether you pay in-state or out-of-state tuition. If county election officials deny your registration application on the basis of your residency, they must give you a specific reason for their denial within 10 days. You have the right to appeal the denial within 30 days in the local probate court.

Your eligibility to vote can also be challenged at the polls, but only by an inspector (that is, an official poll worker). If an inspector challenges your eligibility, you will have to vote a provisional ballot. The inspector will have to sign a statement under penalty of perjury saying why he or she thinks you are ineligible, and you are entitled to a copy of that statement. You should also get a letter after the election from the county registrars explaining how you can respond to the challenge, which you will have to do within one week of the election. Any challenge made solely on the basis of your student or tuition status is invalid.

Voting in Alabama may be considered a declaration of residency, potentially making you subject to other laws that govern state residents.

Identification

When you vote, either at the polls or by absentee ballot, you will be asked to provide identification. You may provide either a photo ID—such as a U.S. passport, driver’s license, or student ID card from any school within the state—or a form of non-photo ID that states your name and current Alabama address, such as a utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, Social Security card, birth certificate, or Alabama hunting or fishing license.

At the polls, if you do not have a required ID, you may vote by provisional ballot, but in order to have your ballot counted, you will have to bring a required ID to your county elections office by 5:00 pm on the Friday after the election. Alternatively, even if you lack the required ID, you can vote a regular ballot if two election officials vouch for your identity.

If you vote absentee, you must submit a copy of a required ID with your absentee ballot (see Absentee Voting section below).

Absentee Voting

You are entitled to vote absentee if you attend school outside of your county or will otherwise be outside your county of residency on Election Day. To vote absentee, you must submit an absentee ballot application to your county election office at least five days before Election Day.

Once you receive your absentee ballot, you must return it with a signed affidavit that is either notarized or signed by two witnesses over the age of 18, as well as a copy of an ID that states your current Alabama address (see Identification section above). If you return your absentee ballot by mail, it must be postmarked no later than the last business day before Election Day and received by your county election office no later than noon on Election Day; if you deliver your ballot by hand, it must be received by your county election office before the close of the last business day before the election.

 

Last updated in April 2012