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Not registered to vote yet? See where you can register in-person on Election Day

Nov 2, 2020, 19:58 IST
Business Insider
Given the current delays with US Postal Service mail delivery in some areas, you'll want to make sure to get your paper application in well before the deadline.AP Photo/Charles Krupa
  • The last day of voting in the 2020 presidential election is on Tuesday, November 3.
  • The deadline to register online or by mail has passed in nearly every US state, but you can still register and vote in-person in some states.
  • Nineteen states and DC currently allow voters to register to vote on Election Day with valid proof of residency if they miss the deadline to register by mail or online.
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The last day of voting in the 2020 presidential election is on November 3. The deadline to register to vote by mail or online has passed, but it's still not too late in the many states that now offer same-day registration.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia currently allow voters to register to vote on Election Day if they miss the deadline to register by mail or online, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

You can register to vote in-person on Election Day in California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

North Carolina and New Mexico also offered same-day registration for those voting early at one-stop early voting sites, which were open through October 31, but do not offer Election Day registration.

You must be 18 years old and a US citizen to be eligible to vote anywhere in the United States. When you register, you'll need to provide the identifying number associated with your driver's license or nondriver state ID card, or the last four digits of your Social Security number.

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All the states that offer same-day registration require new voters to present proof of residency with a valid photo or non-photo ID, with many states mandating those who do not have the requisite ID to cast a provisional ballot until their residency is verified.

While some allow voters to register directly at their polling places, others require same-day registrants to register at their county elections office, not a voting site, so be sure to double-check where to go in your county if you're registering on Election Day.

As noted on the chart, North Dakota has no voter registration and instead requires voters to show ID at the polls in order to vote.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused rates of new voter registrations to dramatically decrease across the board as Department of Motor Vehicles offices and other government service centers had to close down, and large gatherings and voter registration drives were prohibited by state or local governments.

If you're already registered to vote or have recently moved within your state, you can also use same-day registration to update your registration if necessary or verify your registration to make sure it's still active.

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States perform routine voter list maintenance to remove people who have moved to another state, died, or become ineligible to vote due to a felony conviction from their voter rolls.

While such practices are an essential part of securing the integrity of elections, clerical errors and other mistakes mean that eligible voters can be taken off the rolls for not voting for a long period of time or, in more aggressive purges, mistakenly removed from the rolls for sharing the same name as a deceased, moved, or otherwise ineligible person.

Expanded Coverage Module: insider-voter-guide
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