Earlier this week, the US Census bureau released some statistics on the voters in the 2012 election. Their numbers broke down voters by age, race, gender, and location and examined their turnout rates and methods of voting. For students, some great observations have already been pulled by the research group CIRCLE; here are some of their key findings:

Now that we’re in the home stretch of this long election season, Campus Vote Project would like to give you the last bit of incentive you need to vote on November 6. Some people need a healthy combination of outrage and sense of civic duty to vote. We hope our countdown blog provides a little of both.

This November should be an exciting time on Pennsylvania college campuses.  Students across the state, many for the first time, will cast a vote in the presidential election.  Unfortunately, many Pennsylvania students will be kept out of our political process. Some will not bother to go to the polls because they lack any of the recently specified forms of required photo identification; others will be turned away because they are unaware of the state’s new law.

New Hampshire Governor John Lynch must decide what to do with two bills that will affect the ability of the state’s college students to cast a ballot. The bills reflect the hostility to students that House Speaker William O’Brien displayed when he told an audience last year that young people are “foolish” and added that they “lack life experience” and “just vote their feelings.”

Two bills before the Tennessee legislature would reduce the harmful effects of the state’s strict voter ID law, but the reforms do not apply to students. The proposed measures include allowing a state worker to continue to use a state employee ID after retirement and the addition of photos to driver’s licenses for individuals older than 60.

Penn State University agreed to update their student IDs to allow students to use those IDs when voting at the polls.

There is certainly a lot going on in Wisconsin in the week leading up to its Tuesday primary. The state is one of thirteen to have enacted a voter ID requirement. FELN has been an outspoken opponent of such laws which disproportionately affect students, low-income, and minority voters, placing new barriers on their right to vote.