A N.Y. Law Mandates Campus Polling Sites. Why Are There Still So Few?

When New York passed a law in April 2022 requiring all colleges that enroll at least 300 registered voters to have a polling place on campus—or at a nearby location selected by administrators—student voting rights activists breathed a sigh of relief. Voting has historically been difficult for college students in New York. At Vassar College in Dutchess County, the campus was split into three different voting districts until 2022, meaning students were often uncertain about where to vote; simply moving to a new dorm across the street might have required changing their voter registration. Prior to 2020, Bard College students, meanwhile, were required to vote in a nearby church that was cramped and more than a mile from campus—though the college got its own polling place in time for that year’s general election. The new law promised to make the process easier.