“Tell them to vote where home feels to them,” Program Director for Academic Civic Engagement Alyssa Melby said to SOAR Leaders at a recent training. It’s a simple task to bring this piece of insight up to my SOAR students. Reflecting on this statement for my personal voting state, however, I don’t believe I have a clear idea if I had to answer where my “voting home” is. Where does home feel?
I have lived in Greene County, Missouri all of my pre-St. Olaf life, and I go back home during breaks. I have also lived in Rice County, Minnesota for the past two and a half years. I know that there are controversial ideas about how it may be unfair for college students to vote in a county different from their hometown. Those ideas intensify when the question becomes voting in different states altogether.
The state for my 2024 election vote has been a conflicting idea for the past several weeks. Missouri is where I’ve grown up. It holds nearly all of my life experiences. This county is, objectively, home to me. However, I live in Northfield, at minimum, from September to May in an academic year. I am actively affected by decisions made for Rice County as a college student, as I live here for a majority of the year. I have been developing a second home on campus.
I consider my home to be an interwoven tapestry of Missouri and Minnesota. As the two states that hold the physical locations I’ve lived in through longer terms, I hold a weighted decision for which state I want to politically identify myself with.
In order to truly evaluate the two counties, I want to take into consideration what is directly on the ballot for each. Aside from the United States presidential and senator positions, there are some significant differences between the two ballots.
Rice County holds several county-specific roles, specifically relating to the Education Board. In my nearly two and a half years living in this county, I have worked with the Northfield and Faribault educational districts, and as an education concentrator, I actively participate in field experience in this county. The school board and the decisions they make impact the students that I work with.
Greene County holds state-related roles, such as State Governor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State, along with Constitutional Amendments two, three, five, six, and seven. I personally know the Democratic nominee for Missouri Governor, and have watched her campaign for years. Reproductive rights, currently strict and limited, are among the Constitutional Amendments and increasing minimum wage among Missouri laws.
“The students may decide that day [Nov. 5] that Northfield is that home. And they can vote there,” Melby continued during SOAR training. I have recently registered to vote in Rice County. I have been registered to vote in Missouri since I turned 18. I want to register before the deadline in case I have a sudden change of heart. If my home, whether that be my home state, or the second home I’m developing, changes.
I originally planned on voting in Northfield. However, when comparing the two ballots side by side, I felt that my voting pull began to push me more towards my home state.
A part of me may think about how my individual vote doesn’t greatly affect an overall voting population. That my vote won’t sway a state. That voting population, however, is also built on individual votes. If each person believed their individual vote did not make a difference, then there would be a lack of the foundation necessary to build that democracy.
If a college student chooses to vote in either their home county or their college county, the controversy should not be held in the county they choose. If a student chooses their college county, there is power and reasoning behind their voice. They are giving up their home county to vote for where they are still affected by the decisions made in office as college students. The exercise of their voice, wherever someone decides for it to go, is crucial because of the story for reasoning behind their personal decisions.
