Student Voting Project | Indiana
Residency and domicile, what do they mean, exactly?
Learn what it really means to have residency and what that entails...
The Truth About Financial Aid
Students are often warned that voter registration might affect their financial aid. This is untrue for the vast majority of students. Learn more...
Tuition
Registering to vote more than likely won't hurt your wallet. Read more about in-state and out-of-state tuition as it relates to voting...
Taxes, your parents and you
Registering to vote cannot affect your parent's ability to claim you as a dependent. But it could hit you in the pocket, learn why....
Insuring your health and car
Registering to vote will have almost no affect on your insurance, car or health. Read more...
Driver's Licenses and Car Registration
Registering to vote may entail a trip to the DMV afterwards. See why...
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Voting at School
ID Requirements
Indiana requires all voters who vote in person, either on Election Day or during early voting, to show current, valid photo ID issued by the state of Indiana or the federal government. For ID to count, it must: 1) have your name as it is in the registration records; 2) have a photo of you; 3) have an expiration date, which must be current or expired after the date of the most recent general election; and 4) be issued by the U.S. government or the state of Indiana. Student IDs from public universities will only count if they have an expiration date on them; many Indiana schools IDs don't. (Student IDs from private universities won't count at all, because they aren't issued by the state.)
Absentee voters who meet the requirements to vote by mail do NOT have to show ID, but absentee voters who vote in-person must meet the ID requirements described above.
If you don't have a valid photo ID, you'll have to cast a provisional ballot, which will only be counted if you provide ID to county officials within 10 days, or if you appear before county officials and swear that you can't get ID without paying a fee and are indigent or that you have a religious objection to being photographed. You can get a non-driver's ID for free at the Indiana BMV, but you'll have to show proof of your citizenship and your address to get ID, which will usually involve bringing a passport or a birth certificate with you.
Additionally, if you are a first-time voter who registered by mail, including through a registration drive, you'll have to show proof of your name and address, either when you register or when you vote. This requirement applies to absentee voters as well. You can send a copy of your identification with your registration form, send it to county board of elections before Election Day (including by fax), show it at the polling place, or send it with an absentee ballot. Acceptable proof of address must have your current name and address, and includes: any current and valid photo ID; a current utility bill; a bank statement; a government check; a paycheck; or another government document. While you can vote a provisional ballot if you don't have proof of your address when you go to vote, it will only be counted if you are able to return with proof of address before the polls close.
Registration Requirements
The registration deadline is 29 days before Election Day, and mail-in applications must be postmarked by that date.
Residency Requirements
If you move to a college address in Indiana with the intention of making it your principal home and you don't intend to move back to the place you lived previously, you can establish voting residency in Indiana. Indiana law describes voting residence as your "true, fixed, and permanent home and principal establishment," meaning the place to where you intend to return after being away. The Secretary of State has said that the "permanent residence" of students will be their school community, so long as they have "no intention of returning" to the address where they lived before attending school. However, "there is no rule on legal residence that applies to all college students. Each case and each individual is different." Residency equals domicile under Indiana law, so each voter can have only one residence.
Students who lived in Indiana but moved to another state for school, and who wish to establish or keep their Indiana voting residency (i.e., at their parents' address), should have no problem doing so unless they've already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, Indiana allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the county or state to attend school. The only way you might lose this residency is if you "abandon" it by asserting residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of residency in Indiana, some judges or officials might view it as such.
Indiana also has a law that your address for voting must be the same as your address for driver's license and car registration purposes, so if you have a car or if you drive in the state, you'll have to change your license and/or registration to your school address. If you already have an Indiana driver's license, you have 30 days from becoming a resident to change your address; if you're coming from out of state, you have 60 days from establishing residency.
If the county registration office denies your registration on the basis of your residency, they have to notify you of that denial and the reason for it. At the polls on Election Day, your residency can be challenged by official poll workers and by partisan challengers, but it can't be challenged solely on the basis that you're a student or that you live in campus housing. If you're challenged, you'll have to vote by provisional ballot. That ballot will be counted unless someone provides additional evidence that you're ineligible to the county election board.
Absentee Requirement
To vote absentee in Indiana, you must affirm under oath that you have a “specific, reasonable expectation” that you will be unable to go to your polling station on Election Day.
To vote absentee, you have to have a "specific, reasonable expectation" that you'll be unable to vote in person on Election Day. Your absentee voting application must be received at least 8 days before Election Day. Blank application forms are available on the web site of the Secretary of State. Your absentee ballot is due before polls close on Election Day. If you are a first-time voter who registered by mail, you'll have to submit proof of your address. Neither your application nor your ballot has to be notarized or witnessed.
Voting at Home
ID Requirements
Indiana requires all voters who vote in person, either on Election Day or during early voting, to show current, valid photo ID issued by the state of Indiana or the federal government. For ID to count, it must: 1) have your name as it is in the registration records; 2) have a photo of you; 3) have an expiration date, which must be current or expired after the date of the most recent general election; and 4) be issued by the U.S. government or the state of Indiana. Student IDs from public universities will only count if they have an expiration date on them; many Indiana schools IDs don't. (Student IDs from private universities won't count at all, because they aren't issued by the state.)
Absentee voters who meet the requirements to vote by mail do NOT have to show ID, but absentee voters who vote in-person must meet the ID requirements described above.
If you don't have a valid photo ID, you'll have to cast a provisional ballot, which will only be counted if you provide ID to county officials within 10 days, or if you appear before county officials and swear that you can't get ID without paying a fee and are indigent or that you have a religious objection to being photographed. You can get a non-driver's ID for free at the Indiana BMV, but you'll have to show proof of your citizenship and your address to get ID, which will usually involve bringing a passport or a birth certificate with you.
Additionally, if you are a first-time voter who registered by mail, including through a registration drive, you'll have to show proof of your name and address, either when you register or when you vote. This requirement applies to absentee voters as well. You can send a copy of your identification with your registration form, send it to county board of elections before Election Day (including by fax), show it at the polling place, or send it with an absentee ballot. Acceptable proof of address must have your current name and address, and includes: any current and valid photo ID; a current utility bill; a bank statement; a government check; a paycheck; or another government document. While you can vote a provisional ballot if you don't have proof of your address when you go to vote, it will only be counted if you are able to return with proof of address before the polls close.
Registration Requirements
The registration deadline is 29 days before Election Day, and mail-in applications must be postmarked by that date.
Residency Requirements
If you move to a college address in Indiana with the intention of making it your principal home and you don't intend to move back to the place you lived previously, you can establish voting residency in Indiana. Indiana law describes voting residence as your "true, fixed, and permanent home and principal establishment," which means the place to where you intend to return after being away. The Secretary of State has said that the "permanent residence" of students will be their school community, so long as they have "no intention of returning" to the address where they lived before attending school. However, "there is no rule on legal residence that applies to all college students. Each case and each individual is different." Residency equals domicile under Indiana law, so each voter can have only one residence.
Students who lived in Indiana but moved to another state for school, and who wish to establish or keep their Indiana voting residency (i.e., at their parents' address), should have no problem doing so unless they've already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, Indiana allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the county or state to attend school. The only way you might lose this residency is if you "abandon" it by asserting residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of residency in Indiana, some judges or officials might view it as such.
Indiana also has a law that your address for voting must be the same as your address for driver's license and car registration purposes, so if you have a car or if you drive in the state, you'll have to change your license and/or registration to your school address. If you already have an Indiana driver's license, you have 30 days from becoming a resident to change your address; if you're coming from out of state, you have 60 days from establishing residency.
If the county registration office denies your registration on the basis of your residency, they have to notify you of that denial and the reason for it. At the polls on Election Day, your residency can be challenged by official poll workers and by partisan challengers, but it can't be challenged solely on the basis that you're a student or that you live in campus housing. If you're challenged, you'll have to vote by provisional ballot. That ballot will be counted unless someone provides additional evidence that you're ineligible to the county election board.
Absentee Requirement
To vote absentee, you have to have a "specific, reasonable expectation" that you'll be unable to vote in person on Election Day. Your absentee voting application must be received at least 8 days before Election Day. Blank application forms are available on the web site of the Secretary of State. Your absentee ballot is due before polls close on Election Day. If you are a first-time voter who registered by mail, you'll have to submit proof of your address. Neither your application nor your ballot has to be notarized or witnessed.
Click here for a glossary of terms from the Student Voting Guide.
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[1] Ind. Code 3-5-2-42.5 (West 2008).
[2] Indiana Election Division, 2008 Voter Registration Guidebook 16, available at
[3] Ind. Code § 3-5-5-3 (West 2008).
[4] IC 9-13-2-78(3), 9-24-1-1.5.
[7] Ind. Code § 3-7-33-5 (c)(4) (West 2008).
[8] Ind. Code § 3-5-4.5-2 (West 2008).
[9] Ind. Code § 3-11-8-23.5 (West 2008).
[10] Burns Ind. Code Ann. § 3-11.7-5-1.5(f)
[11] Ind. Code § 3-7-13-11 (West 2008).
[12] Ind. Code § 3-7-33-4 (West 2008).
[13] Ind. Code § 3-10-1-7.2 (West 2008).
[14] Ind. Code § 3-5-2-40.5 (West 2008).
[15] Ind. Code § 3-10-1-7.2 (West 2008).
[16] Ind. Code § 3-11.7-5-2.5 (West 2008); § 3-11.7-5-1 (West 2008).
[17] Ind. Code § 3-7-33-4.5 (West 2008).
[18] Ind. Code § 3-11-10-24 (West 2008).
[19] Indiana Election Commission, Application for Absentee Ballot by Mail Only, available at http://www.in.gov/sos/pdfs/ABS-2.pdf.
[20] Ind. Code § 3-11-10-3 (West 2008).
[21] See Ind. Code § 3-11-4-18 (West 2008).
