[EL] COVID and student voting

[Kogan, Vladimir]

The New York Times had a nice article<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/06/us/colleges-coronavirus-students.html> over the weekend documenting the big rise in COVID cases in college towns. Ohio State in many ways exemplifies this trend - just two weeks into the semester, we've already had 1,500 positive student tests<https://safeandhealthy.osu.edu/dashboard>, have more than 300 students living on campus in isolation, and found 10% positivity rates in random off-campus surveillance testing at the end of last week. (Much of it was predictable and avoidable: Our gyms are still open, with masks optional for "strenuous" exercise!)

All of this raises what seems like unique logistical challenges for college students when it comes to voting this fall. Here are a few that come to mind:

  *   Suppose students test positive shortly before the election, are told to go into isolation, and did not request a mail ballot? This is obviously not unique to students - are there are procedures in place for those confirmed to be COVID positive but still want to or have to vote in person?
  *   What if students choose (or, as in our case, are "strongly encouraged" in order to preserve quarantine dorm space) to isolate at their permanent home address, but are registered to vote at their campus address?
  *   What if universities suspend in-person teaching and send students home shortly before the election, but many students are registered to vote at their school address?

Have any jurisdictions planned for these contingencies and are there any best-practices in place?

Thanks!

Vlad Kogan

[The Ohio State University]
Vladimir Kogan, Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Political Science
2004 Derby Hall | 154 N. Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210-1373
510/415-4074 Mobile
614/292-9498 Office
614/292-1146
http://u.osu.edu/kogan.18/
kogan.18 at osu.edu<mailto:kogan.18 at osu.edu>
[Twitter icon]@vkoganpolisci<https://twitter.com/vkoganpolisci>

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