It's that time of the year, or rather decade where we decide who is going to run our government. This year local, state, and federal elections are November 8. If you're not registered to vote, this article is for you! If you are, that's great! Hopefully you'll still learn something! Also, this article is going to focus on my lovely home state of Kansas. If you're not from Kansas, skip to the end for resources.
First: Registering
If you are over the age of 18 or will be 18 on/by election day, you can register to vote. You can check your registration status here: https://myvoteinfo.voteks.org/VoterView/RegistrantSearch.do
Ways to Register:
- You can go to the DMV and they'll register you right there while you're updating your license.
- If you just need to change your address on your license, you can do this online and register to vote then. (This is what I did when I turned 18. It helped that my family had just moved too!) you can do that here: https://www.kdor.org/dl/
- Register online here: https://www.kdor.org/voterregistration/
- You can register by mail by getting the form from here: http://www.kssos.org/forms/elections/voterregistra...
- You can pick up a physical form that you'll either take to an election office or mail in at most post offices or election offices.
Depending on how you register, you may need proof of citizenship. This can be a birth certificate or passport. Here is a complete list of possible proof of citizenship paperwork: http://www.gotvoterid.com/proof-of-citizenship.htm...
The deadline to register to vote in the state of Kansas is October 18! So get on it!
Second: Voting!
Now you're registered! YAY! Congrats! Basically halfway there!
To look up who is on the ballot in your area (So you can make an informed decisions about who you're voting for!), you can look at a sample ballot here: https://myvoteinfo.voteks.org/VoterView/Home.do You can even fill it out, make notes, and take it with you so you know who you want to vote for without having to memorize a bunch of names.
For more county specific information, you can go here: http://www.kssos.org/elections/elections_registrat...
If you are a college student and going to school in a different county or state, or your permanent address is still in KS, but you aren't currently living there because you're traveling for work or are a contractor, or if you just want to vote by mail instead, you have to mail in a form to receive that ballot. You can find that form here: http://www.kssos.org/forms/elections/AV1.pdf
If you want to get your "I Voted!" sticker and vote in person, you can find your polling place here: https://myvoteinfo.voteks.org/VoterView/PollingPla...
That's all I've got for the state of Kansas! So much of this information I got from my resident future politician, YouTube's "How to Vote in Every State", and Rock the Vote.
For every other state:
You can find resources here:
- https://www.youtube.com/c/howtovoteineverystate
- https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&espv=2&q=ho...
- https://www.rockthevote.com/
Good luck and happy voting!
