All the Information You Need to Vote in the 2018 Midterm Elections
The midterm elections will take place on November 6. Are you registered?
If you are not sure, you can check here . And if you don’t, or need to re-register, don’t worry: you still have time in each state to register and / or plan if you need to cast an absentee ballot for the midterm elections.
However, some deadlines are approaching soon, depending on the state you live in, so you need to act quickly to be on the voter lists. (And even if you think you are registered, check again — states such as New York and Arkansas are excluding voters.)
There are many sites with comprehensive voting deadlines and requirements, issue breakdowns, and resources to help us explore important issues. HeadCount is a great resource, as is the Vote Save America site operated by the liberal media network Pod Save America. You can view the voting measures here .
Before we get into the details of the deadline, there are a few important points to note.
First, if you are planning an absentee ballot , you should be aware that you do not need a seal to send to the ballot. “It is the official policy of the United States Postal Service to deliver all absentee ballots and mailing papers, regardless of whether or not they have the proper postage,” says Time . “If there is no stamp or insufficient postage, the Postal Service will instead charge the local electoral council.”
Next, 17 states plus the District of Columbia offer same-day voter registration , according to the National Conference of State Legislators , which means, as you might have guessed, you can register and vote on the same day. These include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. (Note: North Carolina and Maryland make same-day registrations available during early voting, but not on Election Day; 15 other states do this on Election Day.)
One last thing to watch out for is that 16 states and the District of Columbia are permitting or enacting laws that allow individuals 16 or 17 years old to pre-register to vote . These are: California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, and Washington. So if you or your child, say, is about to get a driver’s license in one of these states, you can probably pre-register to vote when you turn 18.
Here’s all the information you need to know about voting times in your state: