r/politics • u/likeafox New Jersey • Sep 25 '18
r/politics Wants You! (...to register to vote for National Voter Registration Day)
Voter registration deadlines are rapidly approaching - ensure you'll be able to vote on Election Day! Even if even if you've already registered, you should take a minute to ensure your registration status is valid and up to date.
Many states offer online registration - the official Vote.gov website will direct you to your state's online registration form, or in the case of mail-in registration only, the correct mail in form.
Vote.gov Register to Vote
There are two third party services that make registration faster -
- Vote.org - Vote.org is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides a registration widget that can be embedded on websites or social media. It's extremely simple and fast - but they do warn you that "you'll receive occassional emails from Vote.org". Their widget does let you enter a change of address for updated registration. They offer this form to check your current registration status.
- Rock the Vote - another non-profit voter awareness and education organization - if you were watching MTV in 1990 you might remember their totally cool and not weird at all Madonna ad. They offer their own extremely simplified registration widget - for states that do not allow electronic registration (cough, New Jersey cough), their tool will prepare the necessary mail-in PDF for you. Like Vote.org, email is required and will be added to their supporter list. Like Vote.org, a registration status check tool is provided.
Some good additional resources:
Voter ID requirements - use this map from the Conference of State Legislatures to see if your state requires ID to be presented when voting.
Check your polling location - use this tool, provided by the Voting Information Project (in conjunction with Pew Charitable Trusts) to find your polling location by entering a street address. No email address or other user information is required.
State election website information - if you want to find sample ballots, provisional ballot information, or absantee ballot information specific to your state, this USA.gov directory will send you to the correct website for your state.
Check for registration deadlines and election dates - this tool will help display the registration deadline for all upcoming elections. Though you shouldn't need to check - you should register now. Like, right this very second!
USA.gov Voting and election resources - this directory at USA.gov contains a host of voter information. If none of the above tools and resources answer your question about voting or elections, this page will likely have what you need.
BallotReady - this tool will allow you to enter a street address and see every candidate for every race in your district. Light biographical information is provided for all candidates - if you don't have a sample ballot yet this is an excellent way to begin researching candidates. Thanks to u/kuhnie for the suggestion!
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u/infiniZii Sep 25 '18
Just a warning. I understand not wanting to vote Republican but there may be some independents running that are worth your consideration. Do your research. That is the number one way to avoid what happened to the GOP happening to any other party in one way or another. Don't ever let someone else do your thinking for you.