With themidterm electiondrawing close , it ’s important to know your rights in causa your vote is challenged .
The respectable way to ensure thatyour vote is countedis to preach for yourself . I ’m a polite rights lawyer and lecturer for theUniversity of Southern California ’s undergraduate civil right protagonism initiative , Agents of Change . Here are several straightforward ways to ensure your voting is counted and two practical remedies for you to consider if your right to vote remains gainsay .
A major part of ascertain that you may vote is doing the necessary cookery before you even get to the polling place .
Verify That You’re Registered to Vote
Before you vote , you postulate to secure that your voter enrolment is current . You canverify your registration statusonline . If you ca n’t get on-line , then call your local election office or a elector help trace like the ones listed in the hotline department below .
If you find you ’re not registered , look the National Conference of State Legislatures for your state’sonline elector registration coating . If you need to do this in somebody , then call your local election bureau for instructions .
At this spot , you may have missed your state ’s deadline for elector registration . But it may not be too late to register in others .
Many states allowsame - twenty-four hours registrationat polling sites . go over if yours does . If it does , and you take to register , ask the poll worker at the correct polling locating for a same - day enrollment course ; complete the signifier and then ask for aconditional voting . A conditional balloting allows election officials to count your vote after verifying your voter eligibility . If you ca n’t explore online , you may call your local election office to find out if you may file on Election Day .
Gather Documents to Verify Your Identity
Voter ID law broadly embrace in - person voting , not absentee ballot or mailed ballots .
If you live in a state that requires personal identity verification to vote in somebody , gather the need document — which may roam from driver ’s licenses to banking concern statements with identify information — before travel to the correct polling place . you’re able to find your county election berth ’s contact informationhere . TheNational Conference of State Legislatureswebsite includes a table listing each country ’s acceptable ID documents and possible elision for some folks . You may also call your local election billet to regain out what ’s postulate .
Find Your Correct Polling Location
you could control that you ’re headed to the correct polling post with thisPolling Place Locator toolfrom Vote.org . Or call your county election office to find your polling lieu and its hour of operation ; you may search up your county ’s election agency middleman informationhere .
Once you have intercourse your polling topographic point and its hours , you’re able to go there and check in . In most case , you ’ll be handed a voting , establish where to vote , and postulate to put your voting in a motorcar or a boxful , and then you may go merrily along your way .
But the instant of check - in is where thing might go wrong .
Problems at Your Polling Place
Here are possible ballot challenges and ways to overcome them .
Call an Election Hotline for Help
If you need a provisional ballot and are n’t give one , call an election hotline for assist . Here are four hotlines , extend by member of the nonpartisanElection Protection coalitionthat you may call :
Report Any Voter Intimidation
If someone tries to frighten off you into ballot — or not voting — for a candidate , support your earth and demand a ballot from the poll site , call a hotline above to account the deterrence , and charge a call with the FBI later by phone at 800 - CALL - FBI ( 800 - 225 - 5324 ) or online attips.fbi.gov .
If you are still block from balloting , debate legal action at law — but get advice on your exact billet from one of the hotlines , which have gratis lawyers on hand . It ’s a good theme to write down the names of the great unwashed who prevented you from voting and to involve people who witnessed the incident for their contact information .
This article is republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license . you may discover theoriginal clause here .
Karen Figueroa - Clewettis a polite rights attorney , a lecturer in the department of political science and external coition , and program coach of the USC Dornsife Agents of Change : Civil Rights Advocacy Initiative , the nation ’s first undergraduate polite rights clinic .
