Voting and out-of-state residents

I went home over this weekend and with the elections fast approaching, I was not surprised to find mail sent home that listed voting sites and where to vote if you're registered to vote and wish to vote early. The dates if you want to vote early in Illinois are between October 13 through Oct. 30th. Unfortunately there are only certain sites that allow early voting - the town hall in my hometown is one of them.

I've already registered to vote at the DMV near where I live, and since I live half an hour away from home, I don't have to go through the absentee ballot process. This is the first time I'll be voting since I registered in 2005 after the presidential election. So I am pretty excited about it mostly because this election is catching a lot more people's interest than previous elections (considering its historic nature).

I've talked with a few residents who live out of state and they have either received their absentee ballot or are planning to get it done. Each state has different requirements for absentee voters, but in general, "if you're away at college, you can almost always vote by absentee ballot." ( via http://www.longdistancevoter.org/absentee_voting_rules ).

I'm wondering how many out-of-state residents at DU are getting involved in this election. Is anyone encountering any obstacles or is voting by absentee ballot easy to do?