Are you registered to vote?

Today is National Voter Registration Day, a holiday since 2012, where organizations register hundreds of thousands of voters on a single day.

“Voter registration is drastically behind where we should be for a presidential election year,” said Virginia Kase, CEO of the League of Women Voters of the United States.

Any other year, league volunteers would have spent the last six months out in the community, registering voters at naturalization ceremonies, farmers markets, gyms, and grocery stores, but because of the pandemic, that hasn’t been possible, Kase said.

“We are doing all we can to register as many people as possible in time for this election,” she said. “But we are just a few short weeks from registration deadlines, so it is more important than ever to reach out to people in our lives who might not be ready to vote this year and encourage them to register or check their registration.” 

League members and volunteers are hosting events across the country, including setting up drive-through voter registration booths, hosting virtual parties, asking restaurants to put voting information in take-out bags, and working with schools to make voter registration announcements over school loudspeakers.  

Millions of Americans – especially young people and first-time voters – have been displaced by covid-19, said Maggie Bush, director of programs and outreach for the national league.

The league and partner organizations are encouraging voters to register online through sites such as the league’s election tool VOTE411.org. Forty states offer online voter registration and deadlines will start closing in early October.  

National Voter Registration Day is a good time to check your registration status and ask your friends to do the same.