Check and Update your Voter Registration

If You’ve Recently Registered to Vote
If you’ve recently submitted a voter registration application, wait a few weeks for your voter registration card to arrive in the mail.

• If there’s a problem with your application, you will be notified.
• If you don’t receive any response, check with your state or local election office.

How to Check or Update Your Registration Information

• Check your registration information, including your name, address, and political party, online at Can I Vote.
• You may be able to update your registration information at Can I Vote.
• You may have to register to vote again to update your registration information.
• Contact your state or local election office for other ways to verify and update your registration information.

Why You Should Check Your Registration Information

• To ensure your information is up to date if you’ve moved or changed your name and aren’t sure you updated your registration
• To ensure your registration wasn’t mistakenly purged by your state

What to Know About Checking and Updating Your Political Party AffiliationIf you’re checking to see which political party you’re registered with, keep in mind that you may not be registered with any political party. This could be because:

• Your state doesn’t accept party affiliations.
• You didn’t indicate a party preference when you registered to vote.
• You can register to vote and participate in general elections and nonpartisan primary elections without ever choosing a party affiliation.

If you ARE registered with a political party, that will not limit you to voting for that party’s candidate in the general election. You can vote for any candidate on the ballot.

When You Should Re-Register or Update Your Registration Information

• Anytime you’ve changed your name
• Anytime you’ve moved permanently
  • You can’t be registered to vote in more than one place at a time. When you register to vote in a new location, you’ll be asked for your previous address. Your new election office will send a cancellation form to your previous election office.

When You Do NOT Have to Re-Register to Vote or Update Your Registration Information

• If your name and address have not changed, you should not have to re-register to vote or to update your voter registration. Once you register, you are registered to vote in all
  • Federal, state, and local elections
  • Primary, general, and special elections
• However, state procedures on maintaining their voter registration rolls vary. If your registration is removed and you don’t discover this before you go to vote, you may have to cast a provisional ballot. That is why it is always a good idea to check your registration status before any election in which you want to vote.
• If you’ll be requesting an absentee ballot because you’ll be temporarily away from home during the election, you should not change your address in your voter registration. Such situations include:
  • Being away on vacation or business travel
  • Serving in the military, or being a military family member, outside your state of legal residence
  • Attending college out of state. However, you may be able to register with your school address and vote in that state, if you choose.