Talk Elections

I will turn 18 November 4 2008.  Will I be able to vote in that election or will I miss it because I won't turn 18 before the registration deadline?

Yes, you will just barely be able to vote. Election day will be that day.

Yes. Hell, in MD they allow you to vote in any primary that you're 18 for the general election. A couple of 16 year olds got to vote.

I would depend on the state.  In PA, you can register for an election if you will 18 on or the day after the election or primary in which you will be voting.

Check with the Arkansas election supervisor website.

In Texas, you can register at 17 years 10 months, but you also have to register 30 days before an election, so if you were in Texas, you would have a fairly narrow registration window.

In general, there has to be a similar procedure everywhere in the US (though specific details may vary by state).  Having a procedure that is imposssible to complete is totally equivalent with denying the right to vote.

From the site:
To Apply to Register to Vote:
You must be a U.S. citizen and an Arkansas resident.
You must be age 18 before the next election within the county.
You must not presently be adjudged mentally incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction.
You must not have been convicted of a felony without your sentence having been discharged or pardoned.
You must not claim the right to vote in another county or state.

To qualify to vote in the next election, you must apply to register to vote 30 days before the election. If you mail this form, it must be postmarked by that date. You may also present it to a voter registration agency representative, or your county clerk, by that date.
If you are qualified and the information is complete, you will be notified by your local County Clerk. 

lucky you, just barely able to make it.  I was about two months off from voting in 2002.

Since it's legal for you to vote at age 18, you can vote even if the election is on your eighteenth birthday.  Each state would have to have a system to allow you to register.  It may be a small window of time in which you have to register, but there would have to be a way.  I had a similar situation when I turned 18.

Can you not register at the polls? Or is that not something you can do in the U.S.?

So many restrictions... In Canada, you only have to be 18 and over and a citizen to vote. (providing you are not the chief electoral officer or his deputy)

You can in some states. The minority, though.


Other than a registration deadline in most states, I don't really see what's restrictive.

Registration tends to be automatic in modern western democracies...

Some people don't register because of fears they'd get called for jury duty...I know one person who didn't register until they got called anyway (and they were in their 50's)...

Republicans like barriers to voting. Some midwest states have same day registration. The rules are better than they used to, every state has to accept registrations 30 days before.

Same Day Registration =  Same Day Fraud