Voting in person is as simple as showing up to your local polling station, but the paperwork involved in getting there can be tricky, especially for first-time voters. Below are some resources for those who need to register to vote and/or for those who require an absentee ballot because they are far from home.
In all states, citizens are eligible to vote as long as they are 18 years of age before the election (except Alaska, where those within 90 days of their 18th birthday can also vote). Every state (except North Dakota) also requires, however, that all legal adults also register to vote in their state of legal residence before showing up to the voting booths.
The national deadline for voter registration is in early October, though the exact day varies by state. To discover your state’s deadline, find your state of legal residence here.
For those who have registered to vote, but whose county of legal residency is too far away to reach before the presidential election on Nov. 8, you are still able to vote via mail-in ballot. In order to have your ballot mailed to you, however, you must first fill out your state’s unique absentee ballot application form.
To access any state’s version of the absentee ballot application form, as well as the deadline for the application to be received, Google has provided a useful tool. To open and download your state’s form, simply select your state from the drop-down menu under “how to,” select “by mail” and click on the PDF button for a PDF version of the form. Download the file and follow the instructions from the Google tool.
To mail your voter registration form and/or absentee ballot application form, find out which office you must mail your paperwork to (which can be found using the Google tool above), and address the envelope accordingly. From there, find a nearby post office, drop it in the appropriate box and send your form off.