Today is the Iowa primaries, aka, the official start of the 2016 presidential election.

That doesn’t mean that much to Ball State students, in terms of voting. In Fall 2014, only six students were from Iowa, according to bsu.edu

Obviously most students are from Indiana, but Indiana residents have to wait until May 3 to vote, which is during Finals Week at Ball State.

For the 27 percent of students who come from out of state, the primaries might be sooner.

Below are the other top states Ball State students were from in Fall 2014, and how to vote in each state’s primary. 

But first, what are the primaries? A few quick definitions.

Open vs. closed: Primaries are separated by Republican and Democrat parties. In an open primary, voters of any party can vote for any party’s primary; whereas, in a closed primary, only voters who are registered for the party can vote in that party’s primary. 

In a mixed primary, unaffiliated voters can vote in either primary, but registered voters have to vote with the party they are registered with. Some states have different statuses for each party.

Presidential primary or caucus: A presidential primary is what we are used to with voting: a secret ballot. Iowa’s Republican primary is like this. 

However, a caucus can take several hours. It involves physically standing in groups for each politician and a candidate has to have 15 percent of the caucus support them to get counted. Iowa’s Democratic primary is like this.

Michigan, March 8: Primary vote. Register to vote by Feb. 8. Absentee ballots are already available to request, and your application for an absentee ballot must be received by March 5. The ballot must be returned by 8 p.m. on election day. There is no in-person early voting. 

Ohio, March 15: Primary vote. You must be registered to vote by Feb. 16 to vote in the Ohio primary. Students can request an absentee ballot by mail by March 12. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by March 11 and received by March 25 to be counted. Ohio voters can also do early voting in-person starting 35 days before the primary.

Illinois, March 15: Primary vote. The last day to register to vote is Feb. 16. Illinois also has a grace period for those who miss the deadline to register to vote. Early in-person voting is available from Feb. 4 through March 14. Any Illinois resident can request a mail ballot now. All requests for mail ballots must be received by March 10. Completed ballots must be postmarked by election day and received within 14 days of the election.

Wisconsin, April 5: Primary vote. You can register to vote up until 5 p.m. the Friday before the election, April 1. In-person early voting begins on March 21. You can request an absentee ballot by mail or by email, and the request for ballot must be received by March 31. The ballot must be postmarked no later than election day.

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