Choosing a candidate is one issue facing students this year – actually registering to vote is another.

Today is the last day to register to vote for the Nov. 2 elections, and students still have several options for registering at the last minute.

Computerized self-serve voter registration kiosks are located near the southeast staircase in the Illini Union and the lower level entrance area of the Undergraduate Library.

Many student organizations also are stepping up to help students register by today’s deadline, partly because the youth vote represents the smallest voter percentage turnout of all age groups.

“A lot of the issues that matter to the youth tend to be ignored,” said Nasim Suterwala, junior in engineering and member of Rock the Vote, an organization that promotes voter registration through events like concerts. “It’s like a circle: The politicians ignore the youth and then the youth end up ignoring the politicians.”

The College Democrats will set up a voter registration booth on the Quad in front of the Illini Union from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. today, said College Democrats member Allison Lale, sophomore in LAS.

Matt Diller, president of the College Republicans and former Daily Illini employee, said his group has focused on registering members of fraternities and sororities to vote. Because they are finished with that effort, they have no voter registration drive plans for today.

Off-campus places to register include the Champaign and Urbana public libraries and the Champaign County Clerk’s office. The County Clerk’s office, located at 1776 E. Washington St. in Urbana, will be open until 5 p.m., said Christine Lyke, deputy county clerk.

While some students are registering by today’s deadline and are planning to visit the local polls in November, some students have decided to cast their vote using an absentee ballot. However, Campus Democrats officer Caitlin McDonald said she thinks they should reconsider.

“(Students) have to apply for an application, the application is sent to them to fill out,” said McDonald, sophomore in business. “It then has to be verified, and once it is verified, they then send the ballot to you. Then you have to send the ballot back in by a certain date.”

Students who are registered to vote in another county can request an absentee ballot from the county clerk in that county anytime before Oct. 26. The absentee ballot must be mailed by Oct. 28, or submitted in person by Nov. 1.

Voting absentee is a relatively long process, which means that if the forms aren’t completed by the Oct. 26 deadline, the vote becomes ineligible. McDonald said voters are more likely to vote when ballots are located in or around their buildings, as opposed to going through the hassle of filling out an absentee ballot.

McDonald said she ran into problems in previous years with absentee ballots when she served as an election judge. The ballot must be run through a machine for verification, and if not enough holes are punched, the machine deems the ballot “under-voted,” meaning the voter did not punch in enough holes for the ballot to count. If too many holes are punched, the ballot is declared “over-voted.”

She said that without voters present to clarify their mistakes, intentional decisions not to cast a vote for a particular race would make the entire ballot invalid.

“There is no way for us to fix the problem, if you can’t validate it yourself,” McDonald said.

Although some political groups are urging voters to cast their ballots at home if their states are swing states, Lale agreed with McDonald, saying students should consider switching their registration to the Champaign-Urbana area.

“They live here, so if they register (here), they can vote on candidates that affect them here,” she said.

Tom Amenta, freshman in LAS, voted in the 2000 election using an absentee ballot while serving in the military. Because he had been on military assignment for five years, he said he was unaware of the issues affecting the local elections when he cast his vote.

“I had no idea about the local candidates,” Amenta said. “I didn’t know if the high school I attended needed a new gym. It’s those smaller elections, that’s where you really get hurt with an absentee ballot.”