Voting Help for Every State
Not in Virginia? American University has a comprehensive guide for the specifics on requesting a ballot in every state and DC.
If you do not have ID
The organization Voteriders.org will help you get one.
If either your ballot or application requires a notary public
If you need a notary, contact Gwendolyn Reece, greece@american.edu to make an appointment.
Process
• Verify your registration
o If you are not registered or have been purged from the rolls, register
• If you are away from your home county because you are in school, request an Absentee Ballot or for your mail ballot to be sent to your campus address.
• Research all your races.
o Vote411.org is a great non-partisan site for comparisons on all races
o Ballotpedia.org is another high quality non-partisan site for comparisons
o You can get all sorts of information on state elections from the National Conference of State Legislatures, State Elections Legislation Database: https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/elections-legislation-database.aspx
• Review all of the ballot instructions when they arrive and follow them exactly.
o Be sure that you include the right amount of postage and, if unsure, err on the side of an extra stamp.
o Pay attention to how to put the envelopes together - often you put your ballot in a sealed envelope and put the sealed envelope in another envelope that may include an affidavit, a copy of ID, and be sealed with a signature, maybe the signature of a witness.
o Pay special attention to whether the ballot must be RECEIVED or POSTMARKED by a particular day. Give your ballot as long a window as possible to arrive [find a post office/postal box - https://tools.usps.com/find-location.htm].
If you have additional questions
Vote.gov is a federal site that gives a good deal of information about special circumstances and links to forms: https://vote.gov/
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