Registering to vote in Washington state
I thought it would be helpful to let you all know how to register to vote here in Washington state and how to request a permanent absentee ballot. Make sure to register by October 4. Otherwise, you will have to register in person. (Yuck!)
First, what is voting permanent absentee? It means you choose to vote by mail instead of at a polling place. You will receive your ballot several weeks before the election. You may vote anytime as long as your ballot is postmarked by election day. If you choose, you may drop off your ballot at your polling location in lieu of mailing it. Easy? Yes. Fun? You bet!
If you are registering to vote for the first time in Washington, you should use the online voter registration site. You need to have a Washington state driver's license or state ID to do so. Go to the online voter registration website and follow the instructions. In order to receive ballots by mail, make sure to say "yes" to the question "Would you like to receive absentee ballots for all future elections?"
If you don't have a Washington state driver's license or state ID card, you can register to vote by mailing in the paper form. But you really should get a driver's license here, right? Right.
If you have moved and haven't changed your voter registration, things get a little complicated. If you have moved within the same county, you can change your address using MyVote without needing to re-register. If you moved to a different county, you need to re-register using the online voter registration tool.
Unsure if you are registered to vote? Go to MyVote and check to see if your registration is active. You just need your name and your birthdate. Check your friends and family while you're there!
If you registered to vote in Washington state quite a while ago, you may want to update your signature on your voter registration. It is the official way election officers validate the authenticity of your absentee ballot. Any signatures that do not match will be discarded. This wouldn't be a huge concern, except that the last gubernatorial election was won by 129 votes out of more than 2.8 million cast. (For those playing at home, that's a victory of 0.0045%.) In Washington, every vote truly counts. To update your signature, print out the voter registration form and mail it to the Secretary of State's office.
Again, you need to register to vote by October 4. If you don't, you'll have to go to your county's auditor's office and register in person. I've done that once. It's not a pleasant experience. Take 5 minutes and register to vote now.
Pass this on, please.
Democratically yours.
First, what is voting permanent absentee? It means you choose to vote by mail instead of at a polling place. You will receive your ballot several weeks before the election. You may vote anytime as long as your ballot is postmarked by election day. If you choose, you may drop off your ballot at your polling location in lieu of mailing it. Easy? Yes. Fun? You bet!
If you are registering to vote for the first time in Washington, you should use the online voter registration site. You need to have a Washington state driver's license or state ID to do so. Go to the online voter registration website and follow the instructions. In order to receive ballots by mail, make sure to say "yes" to the question "Would you like to receive absentee ballots for all future elections?"
If you don't have a Washington state driver's license or state ID card, you can register to vote by mailing in the paper form. But you really should get a driver's license here, right? Right.
If you have moved and haven't changed your voter registration, things get a little complicated. If you have moved within the same county, you can change your address using MyVote without needing to re-register. If you moved to a different county, you need to re-register using the online voter registration tool.
Unsure if you are registered to vote? Go to MyVote and check to see if your registration is active. You just need your name and your birthdate. Check your friends and family while you're there!
If you registered to vote in Washington state quite a while ago, you may want to update your signature on your voter registration. It is the official way election officers validate the authenticity of your absentee ballot. Any signatures that do not match will be discarded. This wouldn't be a huge concern, except that the last gubernatorial election was won by 129 votes out of more than 2.8 million cast. (For those playing at home, that's a victory of 0.0045%.) In Washington, every vote truly counts. To update your signature, print out the voter registration form and mail it to the Secretary of State's office.
Again, you need to register to vote by October 4. If you don't, you'll have to go to your county's auditor's office and register in person. I've done that once. It's not a pleasant experience. Take 5 minutes and register to vote now.
Pass this on, please.
Democratically yours.