New Laws in 27 States Could Keep Students From Voting

In the last presidential election, an out-of-state student going to college in Ohio wouldn’t have to do much to vote in the state beyond registering and bringing proof of residence—a bank statement, a utility bill or even a paycheck listing their Ohio address—to the polls. Some campuses ran buses all day to take students to voting places, making it considerably more comfortable than walking through the November cold. This year, things will be drastically different. Thanks to a 2023 law, the Republican-sponsored HB 458, Ohio’s out-of-state students can no longer use those documents to prove their residency for voting in person; the only acceptable forms of identification are now passports, Ohio state IDs and driver’s licenses, and military, National Guard, and Veterans Affairs IDs.