NAICU - Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi Must Follow Student Voter Registration Rules This Year

New College Affordability Measures

Initiatives being launched in 2012-13 to help keep students' and families' out-of-pocket costs as low as possible. Tuition cuts and freezes, three-year degree programs, and more. Complete list.

NAICU Statement on President Obama's Higher Ed Proposals

NAICU President David Warren commends the president's commitment to student assistance, and calls for avoiding unintended consequences for students. More

Net Tuition Price Falls 4.1% at Private Colleges

Inflation-adjusted net tuition and fees at private colleges actually dropped 4.1 percent in the last five years, according to a recent College Board report. More

News Search of the Week

Here's what the media are saying about:

Student Loans

. . . or visit either our short list of hot topics or our full search-by-topic list to browse news and commentary on any of 100+ higher ed topics.

Banner images provided by Bryant University.

Home

News Room

Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi Must Follow Student Voter Registration Rules This Year

NAICU Washington Update

September 7, 2011

Three states will have gubernatorial elections this fall: Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi. Federal law requires the colleges in these states to make a good-faith effort to distribute state voter registration forms to each degree or certificate-seeking student who attends classes on campus.

This provision, which applies to both federal and gubernatorial elections was written into law in 1998 as part of the Higher Education Act. Some aspects of the requirement suffered from being impractical. NAICU lobbied for and won changes in the 2008 HEA reauthorization, amending the requirement to clarify that e-mail messages with links to the state forms are acceptable. Note, however, that the e-message must be devoted exclusively to voter registration.

NAICU encourages members to embrace this opportunity to organize campus activities in support of voter education, registration, and civic engagement. Election Day is November 8, 2011. Voter registration deadlines are usually 30 days prior to the election. Kentucky, however, has a special deadline of October 11.

For your convenience, we have provided the links to your state boards of elections:

Kentucky State Board of Elections: http://elect.ky.gov/register.htm
Louisiana Secretary of State: http://www.sos.la.gov/tabid/457/Default.aspx
Mississippi Secretary of State: http://www.sos.ms.gov/elections_voter_info_center.aspx

Contact

Bo Newsome
bo@naicu.edu