Today, September 17, marks National Voter Registration Day. November’s general elections are already around the corner, with early voting starting this week in some states. There are voter suppression tactics all over the country, but here are 5 ways to help ensure you can vote and be involved this midterm election season.
You may have registered to vote before, but voters can and do get kicked off the rolls (which is how Georgia Governor Brian Kemp came under fire in his race against Stacey Abrams). Or maybe you moved and didn’t update your information. Double-check your status with a few prompts here.
Except for North Dakota, all states require that you register before voting in an election. If you’re not registered, a federal government website (vote.gov) provides a good place to start. Just choose your location from the drop-down menu at the top, and you’ll also see your state or territory’s registration deadlines.
There are plenty of reasons why people don’t vote. Many nonvoters feel like elections don’t truly change their lives, and they have good reason to think that. But not all elections are the same. Many state and local elections directly affect police budgets, your healthcare access, what and how students learn in public schools, money available for affordable housing, and other issues. Former First Lady Michelle Obama created an initiative, “When We All Vote,” to increase voter education and mobilize voters, and you can volunteer to join her.
You don’t want to be the person arriving at your polling spot 10 minutes before they close, only to find out you’re at the wrong polling location and yours is actually across town. The National Association of Secretaries of State provides a tool to find out where you need to vote, available here.
Election Day is still about two months away, but many voters have options to cast their ballots before Nov. 5. Some have already started receiving mail-in ballots. Early voting became widespread in the 2020 election, when over 100 million voters cast their ballots by mail or in person before Election Day. With the coronavirus pandemic in full swing that fall, early voting let people avoid crowding into polling stations — and many states have kept those voting options in place.
All states offer mail voting in some form, and all but three states offer in-person early voting; the District of Columbia as well as Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands offer in-person early voting, too. The three that do not offer it are Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire, but they provide options for absentee voters in certain cases.
States take different approaches to early voting. To read about the options available to you, go to your state or local election office’s website; you can search for that here.
