For the 2018 Midterms elections, 46 states will hold elections on Tuesday, November 6th for 6,066 legislative races, 36 governorships and 106 legislative referendums, according to the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) StateVote 2018 online guide.
Access voter registration resources and news in the this overview.
Overview of Voter Rolls News & Resources
NCSL offers a number of helpful resources, including an overview of voter list accuracy -- the processes and actions that election officials take to keep voter registration rolls, or eligible voter lists, accurate and up-to-date.
Voter roll cleaning practices vary from region to region, and state to state, but when the Supreme Court sided with Ohio that its process for removing inactive voters did not violate federal laws, several other states indicated they would follow suit, according to NCSL.
In Ohio, local election officials send notices out to voters that do not cast ballots after a two-year period. If they do not respond to the notice, and then don’t vote over the next four years, they are dropped from the official list of registered voters.
Since the beginning of 2018, states have reviewed voter registration restriction bills and actions. In some cases, legal actions have overturned canceled voter registrations.
While 2018 voting media highlights have included stories about voter purging, voter caging and voter suppression, states have been broadcasting public service announcements encouraging or explaining voter registration:
Recently, President Donald Trump tweeted a warning about voter fraud penalty enforcement:
All levels of government and Law Enforcement are watching carefully for VOTER FRAUD, including during EARLY VOTING. Cheat at your own peril. Violators will be subject to maximum penalties, both civil and criminal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2018
According to NCSL, 34 states have voter identification laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls designed to reduce voter fraud.
The organization also offers a helpful resource on voting verification without identification, with an overview of voter and election official responsibilities as well as a chart with all the relevant state statutory requirements.
USA.gov offers a resource to help voters anywhere in the United States learn if they are eligible to vote and how to register, check or update their voter registration information.
NCSL indicates on its website that while many state voter registration deadlines have already passed for the 2018 Midterms, 17 states and the District of Columbia offer same day voter registration.
Other Voter Registration and Voting Resources
Gettothepolls.org or Secretary of State websites, like that of Massachusetts Secretary of State William Francis Galvin, contain elections information while the Ballot Information Project offers data sets that help fuel Facebook’s Townhall Project and similar online applications that connect voters to elected officials, candidates and voting information.
Election Protection offers resources online and at polling stations to help disgruntled voters access support and report election problems.
