National Voter Registration Day is today, September 24. 3 ways you can register to vote in Birmingham

National Voter Registration Day is today (also my birthday!), September 24, and there are a bunch of ways to make sure you and the people in your world are registered to vote.

Just like how we’re supposed to check the batteries in our smoke alarms when the clocks fall back, the fourth Tuesday in September aims to become that day when we ask ourselves “is my voting info up to date?” Read on to find out more.

Voter registration matters. If you’re not registered, or if your info’s out of date, you won’t be able to vote.

Billed as a “national holiday celebrating our democracy,” National Voter Registration Day was born in 2012 and has been going strong ever since.

You don’t want to be that person next November who can’t vote because of reasons like these:

• you moved and never got around to changing your voter registration
• you meant to register but the deadline came and went
• you just didn’t really know how to register
• you weren’t sure how ot do an absentee ballot (if you need one)

In 2018, over *800,000* voters used the day to register to vote or update their voting information. That’s a lot of voters. Be like them—or help someone else be like them by helping spread the word.

1—Look for the National Voter Registration Day tool on Facebook—and use it

How easy is this? Register to vote and encourage your friends to vote, too.

2—Go to Alabama Votes if you’ve got a driver’s license (or a nondrivers’ ID)

This is the Alabama Votes website, not the Facebook group by the same name. It’s the state’s official election center, and you can register to vote three ways:

• online
• via a fillable .pdf
• go old school and have them mail you a form

3—Stop by your local public library to vote on National Voter Registration Day

Public libraries are community treasures for so many reasons. One is that you can stop by them to register to vote, whether it’s on National Voter Registration Day or any other time.

• Ask for voter registration forms to fill in and mail in
• Ask the librarians to help you check your voter registration status online

Basically, when November 2020 rolls around, there’s no reason not to have your registration up to date

There are a bunch of other ways to register to vote in person. They basically all involve situations where you’re applying for or renewing various state and local government IDs or programs, including:

• driver’s license or nondriver ID
• armed forces recruiting stations
• Board of Registrar’s in the county seat where you live
• public schools, colleges and universities

Finally, if all else fails, call 1-800-274-VOTE (8683) to get a mail-in ballot sent to you.

If you register to vote today, tag us @bhamnow and tell us how you did it! And share this with your friends, too, so they can vote in November.