Get Registered to Vote!

Your Guide to Registering and Voting, Too

originally published October 1, 2008

The deadline to register to vote in the November election is on Monday, Oct. 6. By that date, you must be registered to vote in Georgia, in order to vote in Georgia this fall. If you’ve moved within Georgia (or within Athens) since you last registered to vote, and you’re planning on voting at your new address, you’ll need to re-register by Oct. 6. If you’ve officially changed your name (including a name-change associated with getting married or divorced), you’d better register under your new name. If you’re a student or otherwise transient, you can vote elsewhere by absentee ballot (see below) as long as you’re registered to vote there. And if you’ve been convicted of a felony, you can vote if you’ve finished serving your sentence.

Voter Registration

If you’re not sure about your current voter registration status, find your voter registration card and make sure it has your current address and other correct information. It also tells you where to vote on Election Day, Nov. 4. It will be a good idea to bring your voter registration card with you whenever you go to vote, anyway. The other way to check your voter registration status is on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website. The web address for the “Election Center” there is www.sos.georgia.gov/electioncenter. The “Poll Locator” is a great way to check your status and find your polling place, which may have changed since the last election. If you were registered but didn’t vote in some recent presidential elections (even the last one, in 2004), it’s a good idea to look yourself up in the Poll Locator and make sure you haven’t been “purged” from the system.

Or, if you do not appear to be registered, have questions about your registration, or need to know where to vote, contact the Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections. Here’s all the contact information for that office:

155 E. Washington Street. (Downtown, near City Hall)

www.athensclarkecounty.com/elections

Phone: 706-613-3150; Fax: 706-613-3840

If you need to register, forms are definitely available at: the Board of Elections office, the Athens-Clarke County public library on Baxter Street, the DFCS office on North Avenue, the UGA Tate Center and the Clarke County Tag Office on Lexington Road. Forms are available at many other places around town, too, and there are lots of volunteers out with forms helping people get registered to vote. You’ll need to send proof of address (e.g., a copy of a current utility bill) with your registration form.

Also: If you are registering for the first time in Georgia by mail or at a non-deputized voter registration drive, you are asked to put a copy of one of the permitted forms of photo identification with your registration form. (If you do not do this, you still will be able to vote if you bring one of the permitted forms of identification to the polling location. However, if you want to vote by mail, you are required to provide one of the permitted forms of identification before the ballot will be counted.)

Permitted forms of photo identification are: Georgia driver’s license; valid state or federal-issued photo ID; valid U.S. Passport; valid U.S. Military ID with photo; valid Tribal ID with photo; or valid employee photo ID issued by any branch, department, agency or entity of the U.S. government, Georgia or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of Georgia. A free voter photo ID is available at the Board of Elections. No identification is needed to obtain this photo ID.

Again: Monday, Oct. 6 is the last day for voter registration. Voter registration forms will be accepted until 5 p.m. that day at the Board of Elections office. A form sent by mail must be postmarked by that day, at the latest. In Athens, the post office at 575 Olympic Drive is open the latest (until 6 p.m.).

Absentee Voting

Absentee voting, in person or by mail, has already begun (it started on Sept. 22). This means that any registered Georgia voter may cast an absentee ballot in person at the Board of Elections between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, until Oct. 31, instead of voting in-person on election day. You do not have to give a reason to vote absentee. You must have one of the permitted forms of identification (see above).

If you are not yet registered and wish to vote by absentee or you wish to submit an absentee ballot by mail, contact the Board of Elections for instructions. Mailed absentee ballots must be physically in the Board of Elections office (rather than simply postmarked) by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 4.

If you choose to vote absentee, you cannot vote again on Election Day.

Advance Voting

Advance Voting will run from Monday, Oct. 27 through Friday, Oct. 31.

Because the Board of Elections expects high voter turnout this year, Advance Voting will be held at the Classic Center (300 N. Thomas Street, downtown). No matter your precinct or polling location, you can make use of Advance Voting between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday of the last week in October. Note that there will be no in-person Advance Voting on Monday, Nov. 3 (the day before Election Day).

Free parking will be available at the Classic Center.

You must have one of the permitted forms of photo identification (see above) in order to vote that week.

If you do advance voting, you cannot vote again on Election Day.

Election Day

Election Day is on Tuesday, Nov. 4. If you’re voting on that day, you’ll vote at your polling location, which you can find on your voter registration card or on the Georgia Secretary of State’s online poll locator (see above for the web address). You can also call the Board of Elections (phone number above) to find your polling place.

Because they expect high voter turnout, the Board of Elections is recommending that, if possible, you make use of Advance Voting at the Classic Center the last week in October (see above), so that the lines at the polling places won’t be too long on Election Day.

You must have one of the permitted forms of photo identification (see above) in order to vote on Election Day.

Ben Emanuel