Confusion over voter requirements is hurting student voter turnout, according to a Harvard Institute of Politics release. The group asked the National Association of Secretaries of State to make the voting process clearer and more uniform at an NASS meeting in Washington, D.C., the weekend of Feb. 4.

Jennifer Knox, coordinator of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Vote 2004 Coalition, said confusion with the voting process might cause problems for UW students, especially with identification requirements, which she said could become more stringent.

A bill is currently being debated in the state legislature that would require all voters to present a state-issued ID at polling locations.

“We were against that because out-of-state students wouldn’t have one, and in state students might not have one that’s updated and recent if they haven’t been home in a while,” Knox said. “This could be a huge hassle.”

However, Rachel Fronk, who was an intern at the UW-Madison New Voters Project in fall 2004, said UW students still managed to vote in huge numbers in the 2004 elections. UW students voted at over twice the national average rate for college students.

Fronk added registering to vote in Wisconsin is a relatively simple process.

“I think Wisconsin has great laws in terms of allowing people to register [to vote]. People can actually register on the day of the election,” Fronk said.

Fronk also thinks voter registration will go online in the future, motivating more students to register. However, Fronk said everyone should sign up regardless of convenience and disapproves of people making excuses not to register.

“The laziness of Americans is pretty astounding,” Fronk said.

UW-Oshkosh sophomore Jeff Schmidt said identification requirements at the polls might have invalidated his vote.

“I forgot my Social Security number and made it up, so I don’t think my vote counted,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt, however, did not think Election Day requirements should change.

Absentee ballots, which are popular with college students, can also confuse voters. The Institute of Politics release said 42 percent of students reported they would vote absentee in November’s election, more than any group other than the military, yet extra requirements for first time voters can prevent college students from voting.

UW Sophomore Kristin Rabas said voting absentee in Wisconsin, which she did in November, is easy.

“All I had to do was call, and they took care of everything and sent me the forms. All I had to do was mail them back,” Rabas said. “It was a very simple process.”

A confusing and difficult voting process is also only one of the reasons some college students do not vote. UW assistant political science Professor Jason Wittenberg said a variety of reasons could keep students from the polls.

“They may have other things to do that day. There may be no issues that interest them. They may think that their vote doesn’t matter. For example, if they live in an area that always votes for one party or another, they may feel it doesn’t matter if they vote or not,” Wittenberg said.

Fronk said none of these possible reasons is valid.

“There’s no excuse not to vote,” Fronk said.