September 17, 2024
Hey hey hey – you need to check your voter registration right now. Not tomorrow, not next week…today because deadlines are coming.
This is important because even if you think you’re registered – you may not be.
Today is national voter registration day. I have talked about this before but it is critically important for you to check on your registration because things may be drastically different in your state than they were the last time you voted. And since then your registration may have been thrown out.
First – to be eligible to vote in an election in the United States– obviously federal law says you need to be 18 years old and you need to be a u-s citizen. But you also need to meet the requirements in your state… including the specific requirements to register. Federal law also lays out who is not eligible to vote. Non-citizens including permanent legal residents cannot vote in federal elections – that’s a felony — and depending on the state some people cannot vote after being convicted of a felony.
In case you didn’t know, the constitution says we do not have a national election run by the US federal government. What we have is 50 separate elections because the constitution says every single state has a right to conduct its elections in the way it sees fit. So there are 50 different sets of rules for registering to vote, deadlines to register, how those voter registration rolls are maintained and obviously different rules about when you can vote, how you can vote and how votes are counted. I’m going to talk more about all that in another video – but i want to focus on voter registration today.
It is standard for states to regularly clean up or purge their voter registration lists. Names get thrown off the voter rolls for lots of reasons, including the voter passed away, moved out of the state, change names, changed address, or otherwise became ineligible to vote. But – recently – several states have become more aggressive in their purging. And whether by accident – or according to voting rights groups – on purpose – the names of some eligible voters are being purged.
But that’s an easy fix. It’s *your* responsibility to make sure your registration is valid and active. Don’t leave it to your state government. You do it. The easiest way to is to go to vote.gov. At the very top you’ll see “register to vote or update your registration” click the link and then find your state. Now – as I said some states make it very easy for your to register to vote and confirm your registration is active. Some states do not make it easy and you will have to physically pick up a phone and call.
But if voting in this election is important to you — you better act fast because voter registration deadlines are coming up and if you miss those you’re out of luck and you won’t be able to vote.
