Dawn Sparks

This guide is for students registered to vote in Hamilton County, Indiana, who are attending college either at a school in a different Indiana county or at an out-of-state school. If you're registered in Hamilton County and attending school elsewhere, you can either drive home to vote during early voting (April 7 - May 4, 2026) or on Election Day, or request an absentee ballot.

For years, I did it wrong. Every election cycle, I'd launch into my passionate speech about civic duty, the importance of participation, and how their generation could change everything. I'd forward celebrity memes and Instagram stories designed to inspire, then remind them about registration deadlines with increasingly urgent texts. I thought if I could just make them care enough, they'd show up at the polls.