How to Register to Vote After a Move

After moving in to a new place you’ve got a pretty clear to do list: arrange your furniture, unpack your boxes, change your address, and of course, make sure that all is good with your voter registration. Any time you make a major life change, such as changing your name or moving to a new address, you are required to update your voter registration accordingly. If you fail to do so, you may find that you’re ineligible to vote when you show up to the polls (unless you’ve moved to North Dakota, which does not require citizens to register to vote). To keep this from happening, updating your voter registering—or just registering to vote in general—should be at right up there with your other major post-move tasks. Here’s how to do it.

Know your deadline

There’s a lot that you’ve got to get done in the post-move period, and it’s important to prioritize. Check the voter registration deadline in your state to see if you need to tackle this task right away, or if you can wait a little bit. Every state has its own deadlines, with some states requiring that you register to vote no later than a month before an election date and others allowing for same-day registration.

Look up your voter registration deadline and see how much time you have. If you know an election is coming up this should be one of the very first things that you do. Even if there’s not an imminent election on the calendar, however, it’s best to register to vote early on after your move so that you don’t forget to do it later.

Check if you’re already registered

The next thing you’ll need to do is see if you are already registered to vote in your state. If you’ve moved to a new state the answer will automatically be “no,” and will require a new registration. But if you’ve moved in-state, there’s a chance that you’re already registered and will only need to update your information.

To check, head to Vote.org and enter in your information. You can search your information generally, or scroll down, select your state, and check your registration status on your state-specific look-up page.

Find out how to register to vote in your state

There are three ways to register to vote, and depending on what state you live in, you may have all or just some of these options available to you. These include:

In-person voter registration. You must attend your local election office in person. Some states also allow you to register at your local DMV as well. You can find the address for your state or local election office here.

Mail-in registration. Fill out the National Mail Voter Registration Form. You can either fill it out onscreen and then print it out, or print it out and fill in the information by hand. Be sure to follow any specific rules for your state, which can be found starting on page three of the form. After filling out the registration form, mail it to your state or local election office for processing. You may want to call a couple of weeks after mailing it to ensure that it has been received and is being processed.

Online registration. You are able to register to vote online in 37 states, plus the District of Columbia. To see if online voter registration is offered where you live, visit the National Conference of State Legislature’s online voter registration page and scroll down until you find your state. If online voter registration is allowed there, click on the associated website to be directed to your state’s online registration page.

What you need to register to vote

If you are a first-time voter in your state (or a recurring voter in certain states) you will be required to present a valid I.D. confirming that you are a state resident. In some states you do not need to be a permanent resident, provided you are attending school in-state.

The exact documentation that suffices as your I.D. varies by state (you can see what your exact state requires here), but as long as you have a state-issued driver’s license or state I.D. you should be fine. If you don’t, other forms of documentation often accepted to register to vote include:

– Copy of your U.S. birth certificate
– U.S. military I.D. card
– Veterans I.D. card
– U.S. passport
– Employee I.D. card
– Public benefit card
– Student I.D. card

In general, as long as a piece of documentation has both your name and photo it is sufficient for registering to vote. In lieu of this information in some states you can just show documentation that has your address (for example: a utility bill or a car payment bill). Others allow you to simply issue a sworn statement of your identity at the time of voting.

Because the documentation you do or do not need in order to register to vote varies so widely by state, be sure to check your own state’s voter I.D. laws so you don’t assume you have the right documentation when you need something else.

What if you’re not living in the states?

If you are in the military or a U.S. citizen who has moved overseas, you are able to cast an absentee vote without having to adhere to any voter I.D. requirements under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).

U.S. citizens living abroad are required to submit a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) to local election officials every year in order to maintain their eligibility. Once you do so, an absentee ballot will be sent to you either by mail or electronically. You will be allowed to vote in all general elections and primaries, but depending on your state of origin may not be able to vote for state or local offices.

Learn more about voting from overseas here.

Registering to vote with a disability

If you are elderly and/or have a disability that makes it difficult for your to register to vote or make it to the polls on voting day, you are not out of luck. Five federal laws protect the rights of the disabled to vote, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), and the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA).

According to the ADA:
“The NVRA requires all offices that provide public assistance or state-funded programs that primarily serve persons with disabilities to provide the opportunity to register to vote by providing voter registration forms, assisting voters in completing the forms, and transmitting completed forms to the appropriate election official. The NVRA requires such offices to provide any citizen who wishes to register to vote the same degree of assistance with voter registration forms as it provides with regard to completing the office’s own forms. The NVRA also requires that if such office provides its services to a person with a disability at the person’s home, the office shall provide these voter registration services at the home as well.”

If you are elderly and/or disabled and need assistance registering to vote, call your local election office and inform them.

Visit Vote.org for complete information about registering to vote in your state, including information on absentee voting, registration requirements, and where you’ll need to go on election day.