Information for College Students

Registering to vote 

You should register to vote where your home is. That could be either:

1. where you live while attending college in Pennsylvania (regardless of whether you live on or off campus) OR
2. your prior home address in Pennsylvania, if your family or guardian still resides there.

Keep in mind: You must meet the general eligibility requirements to register and vote in that district. That means you must be a U.S. citizen at least 18 years of age and have lived in the district for at least 30 days.

The deadline to register to vote is 15 days before an election. If you are a freshman or a transfer student just moving to a new district for school, you can register where you live while attending college as long as you moved there 30 days before the election.

Regardless of where you register, you can only vote once in each election.

Eligibility requirements to register to vote in Pennsylvania

To be eligible to vote in Pennsylvania, you must:

• Be a citizen of the United States for at least one month before the next primary, special, municipal, or general election.
• Be a resident of Pennsylvania and the election district in which you want to register and vote for at least 30 days before the next primary, special, municipal, or general election.
• Be at least 18 years of age on or before the day of the next primary, special, municipal, or general election.

Out-of-state students studying in Pennsylvania

If you moved from outside of PA to attend college in PA, you may register to vote in Pennsylvania if you meet the requirements listed above. Remember, you can only vote once in each election.

Important factors to consider when deciding where to register to vote

• Will you vote in person or by mail? Depending on where you are registered, you may need to request an absentee or mail-in ballot for an upcoming election.
• Consider where you will be after the upcoming election and plan ahead. If you are graduating right after a May primary election, you may need to update your registration to a new address before the November election. 

Make a plan for every election

College students should plan ahead if they are going to be in different locations in Pennsylvania during different times of the year. For example, if you are registered to vote at the address where your family lives, and you are not able to get to the polling place in your home voting district on Election Day because you will be at school, you should plan to apply for an absentee or mail-in ballot so that you can cast your vote.

College students voting toolkit

You can help spread the word about the voting and elections via your communications channels, including social media, websites, newsletters, emails, etc. These materials are aimed towards college students but you can find other voting materials on our voter education toolkit.