Voting Process

With the 2016 presidential election right around the corner, it’s easy to get confused about how the process of voting in your town works. It can be even harder to understand when you move away from your hometown and have to vote in a college town. Hopefully, since there is around a week until the election your already registered to vote. If you’re not sure if you’re registered, you can always check by clicking here. If after checking online you realized that you’re not registered to vote, don’t panic! There is still time to register. You can register on the website given above and you can even register at the polls on election day! However, if you don’t register before election day, be prepared to potentially wait in line longer than you would have to if you had already registered.

For those who aren’t sure when election day is, it will be Tuesday November 8th. National elections will always be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. This was decided in 1845 by The United States Congress to give voters (who were for the most part farmers) time to travel to where they would be voting. Tuesday was picked so that travel wouldn’t take away from any religious services that would be happening on Sunday for voters.

So now that we’ve covered registering to vote, let’s fast forward to Tuesday, Election Day! If you’re a student at UW-Whitewater, are registered to vote in Whitewater, and live in campus housing, then you will be able to vote on campus in the James R. Connor University Center. There are however, some off campus living locations that vote in the UC as well. If you live off campus, or in a different city and you’re not sure where you will be voting, check online at: http://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/FindMyPollingPlace On election day don’t forget to bring a photo ID, for you will need this to receive a ballot. You will also need to bring a UW-W Voter Enrollment Verification Form. To print this form and follow these steps:

  1. Log in to WINS
  2. Select Self-Serve
  3. Under the Academics section, select My Academics
  4. Select UW-W Voter Enrollment Verification
  5. Select Print a Voter Enrollment Verification

Make sure that before you head off to the polls all of the information on your Enrollment Verification is correct. To check what forms of photo ID are approved, you can check the following website. (http://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/PhotoIDRequired).