STATESBORO — The Office of Multicultural Affairs will host a voter registration drive where students can register to vote on Feb. 18 and 19 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Russell Union Commons.

The event is part of a series of events organized by the Office of Multicultural Affairs for the 2020 Black Heritage Month celebration. The theme of the celebration this year is “The V.O.T.E. Matters – Voices of the Excluded.”

Making sure students are informed about the voting process is an important part of celebrating this month, according to Maurice Nelson, the coordinator of diversity education and program outreach for the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

“It’s nonpartisan, so there’s no partisanship,” Nelson said. “It’s just really all about encouraging people to be participants in the voting process, which starts with getting registered to vote.”

The voter registration drive will also have information about absentee ballots available for students who are already registered to vote in a county besides Bulloch County.

If you are not registered to vote in Bulloch County but will be here during the elections, you can still vote in the county you are registered to vote in by filling out and submitting an absentee ballot. More information about this can be found on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website. https://sos.ga.gov/index.php/elections

If you are registered to vote in Bulloch County, you can go the Georgia My Voter Page website to find where your designated polling location is.

The presidential election will occur on Nov. 3, 2020, but all states will hold primary elections in the months leading up to it.

Although the 2020 presidential election is still months away, Georgia’s presidential primary election is March 24, 2020. In order to be eligible for voting in this election, voters must be registered by Feb. 24, 2020.

In May, Georgia will hold a state primary election, and the registration deadline to be able to vote in that election is April 20, 2020.

Abby Fuller, The George-Anne News Reporter, gaeditor@georgiasouthern.edu