What You Need to Know to Vote This Fall

Sept. 25 marked National Voter Registration Day, with voting officials and get-out-the-vote groups nationwide engaging in outreach campaigns nationwide.

Oregon’s secretary of state, Dennis Richardson, released a video public service announcement featuring Anthony Sadler and Spencer Stone, best known for stopping a terrorist attack in Europe in 2015. Richardson has also launched a Facebook campaign to reach out to inactive voters in Oregon this fall.

In Washington, more than 167,000 eligible but unregistered people received postcards this week urging them to register to vote.

Elsewhere in the country, civil rights activists are gearing up to encourage voter registration, and encouraging voters in states with increased voting restrictions to check their registration early and often.

The NAACP has launched voter mobilization efforts that include a social-media campaign the activation of its 2,200 branches across the country and key on-the-ground strategic initiatives in Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Adults in every part of the country can register to vote, check their voter registration or eligibility or find out where to vote through the portal site howto.vote. Here’s what voters in The Skanner’s coverage areas need to know:

Are You Eligible?

In Oregon, you can register to vote if you are:

• At least 16 years old
• A resident of Oregon and a citizen of the United States and
• Have a valid Oregon driver's license or state ID card issued by the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles

Oregon does not restrict the voting rights of individuals with felony convictions.

In Washington, you can register to vote if you are:

• 18 years old by the day of the next election
• A legal resident of Washington and citizen of the United States
• Not disqualified from voting due to a court order
• Not under Department of Corrections supervision for a Washington felony conviction

Registering in Oregon

If you live in Oregon and want to vote in the November election, the deadline to register is Oct. 16.

You can register to vote on the Oregon Secretary of State’s website. You can also check or update your voter registration.

You can also download and print a paper registration form here. That link includes forms written in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Somali and Russian.

If you or a loved one have a disability and need accommodation or assistance, visit the Oregon Secretary of State’s Services for People With Disabilities web page for information about how to access appropriate help.

You can also register to vote in person at a county elections office:

• Multnomah County: Duniway-Lovejoy Elections Building, 1040 SE Morrison St., Portland, OR 97214; (503) 988-3720
• Washington County: 3700 SW Murray Blvd # 101, Beaverton, OR 97005; (503) 846-5800
• Clackamas County: 1710 S Red Soils Ct # 100, Oregon City, OR 97045; (503) 655-8510

Registering in Washington

If you live in Washington and want to vote in the November election, Oct. 8 is the deadline for online & mail-in voter registration, all address changes, name changes, and other updates. In-person voter registrations for new voters accepted up to eight days prior to election day.

You can register to vote on the Washington Secretary of State’s website.

The Secretary of State’s website also has downloadable, printable registration forms in 21 languages, downloadable here. You can also request forms via mail – up to 1,000 if you are running a voter registration drive – here.

Voters with disabilities can access accessible formats of the voters’ pamphlet, information about accessible voting areas, and more here.

You can also register in person. Here are addresses for the elections offices in our coverage area:

• Clark County:1408 Franklin Street Vancouver WA 98660-2879 PO Box 8815; (564) 397-2345
• Renton County: 919 Southwest Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057-2906; (206) 296-8683