What the form asks for
Every state but North Dakota, which has no registration at all, asks the same few things: your name, your home address, your date of birth, and either a driver's license or state ID number or the last four digits of your Social Security number. You must be a citizen and eighteen by Election Day. Many states let you pre-register at sixteen or seventeen so the registration turns live on your birthday. The federal site vote.gov routes you to your own state's official form, and most states accept it online.
Deadlines and same-day states
Federal law lets a state close registration no more than thirty days before an election, and a number of states use the whole thirty. Others close at fifteen days or fewer, and roughly twenty states and the District of Columbia let you register and vote on the same day, usually with proof of address in hand. Inside two weeks of a deadline, register online or in person and do not trust the mail.
Party and primary rules
Registering with a party matters mostly in states with closed primaries, where only registered members may vote in that party's primary. The deadline to switch parties can fall weeks or even months before the primary itself, well ahead of the ordinary registration deadline. Your party registration never restricts how you vote in a general election.
Keeping it current
A registration is tied to an address. Moving across town usually means an update, and moving across a state line means a new registration. Students may register at a school address or a home address, and they must pick one. States also clear their rolls of voters who appear to have moved or who have not voted in several cycles, and the notice card they mail is easy to mistake for junk.
- Look yourself up on your state's voter lookup page about six weeks before each election.
- Confirm the name, the address, the party and the polling place shown there.
- Fix any error right away, while the registration deadline is still ahead of you.
Rules on voting after a felony conviction differ sharply from state to state, and the state elections office publishes the current one.
Note If you arrive and your name is not on the rolls, federal law entitles you to a provisional ballot. Ask the poll worker what you must supply afterward, and by what date, for it to count.
