It’s National Voter Registration Day: Here’s What You Should Know

The good news is voter turnout among young people has surged in recent years: According to analysis from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), 31% of 18-to-29-year-olds voted in the midterms in 2018, which is a 50% increase from 2014.

The bad news is that young people are still the demographic least likely to vote, with only about 50% of 18-to-29-year-olds typically voting in presidential elections. The other half could be enough to turn the tide in 2020. If you still haven't registered to vote, today — National Voter Registration Day — is the perfect day to do so. Ahead is everything you need to know.

National Voter Registration Day, created in 2012, aims to “create broad awareness of voter registration opportunities” with online and street volunteer campaigns. Many companies and groups, including Facebook and Google, back #NationalVoterRegistrationDay. According to its website, over 800,000 voters in all 50 states used National Voter Registration Day to register to vote in 2018.

You can check to see if you're registered and register to vote here.

Each state has its own rules, which you can read about here, but generally you need a state-issued ID.

Each state has its own deadlines, which you can find here. Several states are holding local, state legislative, and gubernatorial elections in November 2019, for which the deadlines are quickly coming up. You can still register to vote in the upcoming 2020 presidential primary in all states, with many of the deadlines in February.

You can do so in most states. Learn more on the National Voter Registration Day website.

Again, it depends on your state. Check info here. To get alerts for all of your elections, you can also visit iamavoter.com or text "VOTER" to 26797.

You can get started! Vote.org has launched a new tool called Pledge to Reg(ister), which allows young people between 13 and 17 to sign up to automatically receive a text when they turn 18 with a link to register to vote.