November 7, 2022
What are your voting rights when you go to the polls on election day?
There are state election laws and there are federal election laws that apply to voters.
I’m going to focus on the federal laws, but you should obviously check with your state voter laws too. I’m also going to give you a phone number at the end of this video to call if you see or are the victim of voter rights violations.
First –given the political environment we’re in right now you should know– you have the right to vote without being intimidated by others. It’s a federal crime to intimidate, threaten or coerce any person for the purpose of interfering with that person’s right to vote. You can’t threaten a voter with physical or financial harm if they don’t vote a certain way, you can’t prevent qualified voters from voting by lying about time, date or place of an election and in some states it’s illegal to wear apparel with political logos or slogans in the voting locations. It’s also a federal crime to intimidate or threaten a poll worker. Don’t do that.
Now that that’s cleared up – what your other rights? You need to make sure you’re registered to vote in order to be eligible. Every state has different options and deadlines for that.
If you’re voting on election day you need to make sure you’re voting in the precinct where you’re assigned – unless your state or county has vote centers where anyone who is registered can vote.
What should you bring? Again, every state has different rules. But most require you to show some form of identification before you’re allowed to vote. That may be an ID or some kind of documentation that you’re a resident.
When you show up to vote depending on the time of day you show up the polling place might be busy. If so, you’ll have to wait in line. Make sure you give yourself time because sometimes those lines are long. But generally if you’re in line and the polls close, stay in line, you have the right to vote.
If you show up at a precinct and the poll worker says you’re not assigned to that location… you have two options. You can leave that precinct and go to the correct precinct, or you can stay at that precinct and vote using a provisional ballot.
By federal law all polling locations have to be fully accessible to older adults and to voters with disabilities. And federal law says voters who have difficulty reading or writing in English may receive in-person assistance at the polls from a person of their choice and that can be a family member, a friend or a poll worker. But it can’t be your employer or an agent of your employer or union.
After you vote, if you want to keep track of the congressional balance of power in your state or at the federal level, my handy midterm election guide is available full great and helpful information.
Now if you witness or are the victim of some kind of violation of federal voting rights call the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights division. They will be out in full force on election day. The toll free number is 800-253-3931 or visit the civil rights page on DOJ’s website. I will email that stuff out to you through my news girl news roundup email on Monday. So you have it just in time to go vote on Tuesday.
More from the DOJ Civil Rights Division here.
More about voting rights from the FBI here.
More about federal election laws here.
