Make sure you can vote

Every state runs its own elections, so deadlines, ID rules and mail ballots depend on where you live. Every tool below is official or nonpartisan. None of them is ours, and none of them will tell you how to vote.

18 days until Election Day

1. Check your registration

   Do this even if you have voted at the same address for years. States remove names from their rolls for moves and inactivity, and several states are checking their rolls against federal records this year. If your record is wrong, finding out now leaves time to fix it.

   • Can I Vote, from the National Association of Secretaries of State. Pick your state and it sends you to your state's own registration lookup.
   • Vote.gov, the U.S. government's official site, for registration rules and deadlines in every state.

2. Register, or fix a problem

   Registration deadlines have already passed in many states, but not all of them. Some states let you register at an early-voting site or at your polling place on Election Day. Vote.gov lists your state's deadline and whether same-day registration is allowed.

3. Know where, when and what to bring

   Look up your polling place, early-voting dates and hours, and your state's ID rules on Can I Vote. ID requirements differ a great deal from state to state. Check them before you go.

4. Read the questions before you go

   Many ballots include questions that change the law directly, and the wording on the ballot is only a summary. Your official sample ballot shows every question you will see. Our own ballot questions section explains how to read any of them, lists every statewide measure in the country with a link to its official text, and has full plain-language explainers for Maryland and Virginia, plus a free tool that puts any ballot question into plain language. It does not tell you how to vote.

5. Voting by mail

   If you plan to vote by mail, note two deadlines: the last day to request a ballot and the last day it must be received or postmarked. Most states let you track your ballot online. Follow your state's instructions on signatures and envelopes exactly, because that is where most mail ballots run into trouble.

6. Military and overseas voters

   Members of the military, their families, and citizens living abroad vote through the Federal Voting Assistance Program. Allow extra time for mail.

7. If something goes wrong at the polls

   If your name is not on the list, ask for a provisional ballot. Federal law guarantees you can cast one (Help America Vote Act, 52 U.S.C. 21082), and your eligibility is checked afterward. Then contact your state or local election office; the Election Assistance Commission's directory lists them all.

   An independent hotline also takes calls on Election Day: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683), or 888-VE-Y-VOTA in Spanish, run by the Election Protection coalition.

8. Read before you vote

   To see what is on your ballot, including local races and measures, try Vote411 from the League of Women Voters Education Fund, or Ballotpedia's sample ballot lookup. Both are nonpartisan.

The Yellow Jacket Initiative does not endorse candidates or tell anyone how to vote. We follow the rules that govern voting, including proposals that would change them, such as the voter-registration provisions in the House defense bill (our reading of the text). Links checked October 16, 2026. If one breaks, your state election office is always the authoritative source.