Throughout the past few weeks, new students have been filling up the UA’s residence halls and classrooms. However, there’s more to living here than just university life.
New students are walking into a perfect political climate with the upcoming presidential election ­— and in Arizona, a new U.S. senator, as well as a redistricted state with more political positions in play than have been seen in years.
If you are one of the roughly 15,000 out-of-state students at the university, and plan on living here for a while, you might wonder if you can participate in the political process.
The answer is very simple: Out-of-state students are allowed to vote in Arizona.
The few requirements: be a citizen, be 18 years old or older and live in Arizona 29 days prior to Election Day to register, either on paper or online.
It’s too late to register and be able to vote in the primary elections set for next Tuesday, but the local, state and national climate will make the general election intense no matter which candidates win round one and move on to Nov. 6.
You have until Oct. 8 to register so you can vote in all the November elections.
Of course, you can file for an absentee ballot from your home state, but that won’t be as exciting. Arizona is the lightning rod of political controversy in the country today, and with so many races and events happening at once, who wouldn’t want to have a say in how it all turns out?
Put a voice to what you are passionate about, be it Senate Bill 1070, the Affordable Care Act (yes, that’s the real name of “Obamacare”), Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s tent cities and pink underwear, or the crazy state Legislature, which has tried unsuccessfully for the past two years to legalize guns on state university campuses.
Because you are now living in the craziest and most sensational state in the Union, you should be a part of the friction and chaos come November.
Besides, young voters are inconsistent in terms of turnout in comparison to other demographics. Help up the ante. We’re all busy, but we can take a little time to be a part of our democracy.
It only takes five minutes to register and little more time to actually vote.
Your home state will still be there in two years, or four, or however many years you plan to stay here. But you live in Arizona, and Arizona politics should be the politics that you want to participate in.
If that’s not enough to get you invested, consider this: There is a proposition to declare Arizona’s sovereignty over all of its land, water, air and natural resources from the federal government.
In two years we may be voting whether to secede from the Union, so you should vote now while we’re still a part of it.

— Andres Dominguez is a senior studying journalism and political science. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu or on Twitter via @WildcatOpinions