Voting Starts with Knowing-Check Your Registration!
By: Gabrielle Bernabe
One of the most important civic duties that every American citizen has is their right to vote.
There is an understanding that your vote counts toward the presidency, and that presidential elections take place every four years. Yet, many are not aware of their civic duty on the legislative, state, and local levels.
Civic literacy comes in the form of knowing your rights, along with knowing the candidates that are running and who you will be a constituent under.
In November, Connecticut along with every other state, will hold its midterm elections, where all of the U.S. House of Representatives, some of the U.S. Senate, and select state and local government seats are up for election. It is at this point that I ask a very important question:
Are you registered to vote?
Regardless of what side of the aisle one is on, it is imperative that in order to change certain things in one’s day-to-day life that one doesn’t like, one knows who is behind that change. With most people’s focus on the presidency, they neglect these lower levels of government who also have a lot—if not more—impact on the things experienced in one’s day-to-day life.
For Connecticut, voter registration can be checked through Voter Registration Lookup.
For those who live out of state, here are some resources, to name a few:
New York: Registered Voter Search
Massachusetts: My Voter Registration Status: Search
New Jersey: NJ DOS – Division of Elections – Voter Search
Vermont: Welcome to the Vermont Voter Portal
If a state is not listed, search for “(your state) voter registration” to find the appropriate resource.
Many of the deadlines to be registered for this cycle are about 18 days, or Friday, Oct. 16, from the election date, Tuesday, Nov. 3. Connecticut’s regular voting registration deadline is Oct. 16, although eligible voters can also register in person during the early voting period or on Election Day through same-day registration.
Out of state students! This date may be different from Oct. 16, and registration deadlines can be checked by searching for “(your state) voter registration deadline.”
Let’s continue to do our civic duty!
Sources:
https://whatsonmyballot.info/blog/voter-registration-deadlines-by-state-2026