TO THE EDITOR:
Decisions by local elected officials affect students, and the federal census on which political representation and redistricting is based lists students where they live in April, almost always an academic year address.
Early voting for the Nov. 7 Chapel Hill and Carrboro Town elections is being conducted close to campus Oct. 23-Nov. 4 at Chapel of the Cross next to the Morehead Planetarium and Carrboro Town Hall on West Main Sreet (any Orange County voter can go to any site).
Weekday hours beginning Oct. 23 are noon to 7 p.m. at Chapel of the Cross, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Carrboro Town Hall.
Both sites are open Saturday, Nov. 4 and Carrboro Town Hall has voting Saturday, Oct. 28 (note: sites close at 5 p.m. on Halloween).
The 6,000 students who registered to vote in Orange County last year or earlier and are still here remain eligible to vote.
Early voting also allows Orange County voters to report address changes within the county as they vote, important for students who moved since registering.
New residents can register to vote at early voting. To do “same day registration”, bring some evidence of your identity and local address (for University Housing residents, early voting sites have housing rosters that will verify the address part of the requirement).
In addition to Chapel Hill and Carrboro elections, this academic year there are also primary elections for Congress and other offices May 8, 2018.
