Election officials at the Bird Library voting location on the Syracuse University campus said that about one-third of the approximately 200-300 students that came in by 5 p.m. Tuesday were turned away for not being properly registered as a Republican or Democrat in Onondaga County.
Some of those students are registered to a political party but live in New York City and were told they needed to fill out an absentee ballot weeks ago. Many of those students, including sophomore Sunnie Addison, said they had no idea they needed to fill out an absentee ballot.
“I wish I knew in advance," Addison said. "I think there needs to be more things so that people know that if you can’t vote here you need to figure out a way to vote at home, so it’s a little bit discouraging.”
Sophomore Amara Wilson is particularly frustrated that registered voters cannot vote anywhere they want in the state. She is doing a project on the voter trends of young people.
“With so many of our own issues being spoken about, being decided on, being in the balance, we want our voices to be heard, especially through voting," Wilson said. "This is the best way for our voices to be heard.”
Syracuse University student Kira Grant is from New York City and the first person in her family to go away to college.
“No one in my family really knew, to them it was just, you show up and you vote," Grant said. "I wish that two or three weeks ago I would have been told about an absentee ballot. Part of it is also on me for not looking it up. It’s a frustrating situation.”
Students are not alone on this issue, even Donald Trump's son and daughter Eric and Ivanka Trump missed the deadline to change party registration in New York state, which was back in October.
