Election Day is November 5th, and your mail-in ballot will arrive in your mailbox up to a month before then – provided your voter registration is current.

But what if you’re wondering, “How do I know if I’m registered to vote?”, whether election officials have your correct mailing address, and when voter registration ends? What if you want to register to vote for the first time and need to know the registration requirements? And what if you’re registered to vote for a particular political party but are considering voting for another party’s presidential candidate?

Read on to learn everything you need to know about voter registration, or skip straight to:

I’m pretty sure I’m already registered to vote, but how can I verify?

You can check your voter registration status at voterstatus.sos.ca.gov. It will show you whether you are actually registered to vote and at what address.

If your voter registration shows as active and your address and name are up to date, that’s great: You can rest easy knowing your mail-in ballot will arrive in a few weeks.

You can also check to see if your ballot was mailed at voterstatus.sos.ca.gov closer to the election. You can also use the Where’s My Ballot tool to check if your ballot was mailed.

Why might I need to update my voter registration?

Updating your voter registration is also called “re-registering” to vote—because in order to update elements of your voter record at registertovote.ca.gov, you must register to vote. again as if you were creating a new application.

As a general rule, you will definitely need to re-register if your name or address has changed. But if you feel weird registering to vote when you know you’re already registered, don’t worry: This isn’t considered an attempt to fraudulently register to vote twice or anything like that. Since your voter registration is tied to your Social Security number and your driver’s license/ID number, your new voter registration will be linked to your existing Voter registration and your information will be updated this way. There is also a section on the form where you can provide any previous addresses and names under which you were registered as a voter.

If you want to change your party preference, you will also have to re-register to do so. However, unlike the primaries earlier this year, in a general election you can vote for any presidential candidate you want, not just the candidate of the party you are registered with.

For minor changes, your county may allow you to submit a voter action form by mail or online. For example, if San Francisco residents want to make minor changes to their voter registration, they can use a form from the San Francisco Department of Elections to determine if they can do so online. Find the website and contact information for your Bay Area county elections office.

You should update your voter registration if:
If you have moved to a new address within California

If your old address is on your voter registration, your mail-in ballot will automatically be sent to that address—not your new one. Your voter registration will only reflect your new address if you manually updated it or if you updated your address with the DMV.

To vote, register with your new address at registertovote.ca.gov.

The state says you can also send your current county election official a signed letter to notify them of your move, along with your birth date and current address. Find the website and contact information for your county election office in the Bay Area.

If you have officially changed your name

In this case, you will need to re-register to vote using your current (new) name. One important thing: Before you do that, the Secretary of State recommends that you update your California driver’s license or identification card with the DMV. First.

This is because when you register to vote online, your county election office electronically requests a copy of the signature the DMV currently has from you. And if you haven’t updated your signature with the DMV, the signature the agency sends to your county election office will be the signature for your previous name, not your new one, and your registration will be rejected. Read how to update your signature with the DMV.

What if you can’t update your information at the DMV first? In that case, the state recommends that you select “Decline” on the application when asked to register to vote with your DMV signature. However, you will need to click “Print” and sign the paper application that you mail.

Register to vote using your new name at registertovote.ca.gov.

If you haven’t voted in a while

“Generally,” the state says, “you will remain registered as a voter as long as you remain at the same address at which you are registered – but there are cases where voter registration can be canceled if a voter has not voted in several consecutive general elections.”

So if your ballot doesn’t arrive in October and you suspect it might be because you haven’t voted in many years, contact your county election office as soon as possible. Jump straight to our list of Bay Area county election offices.

When is my last opportunity to update my voter registration?

If you forget to re-register with your new address or name and your ballot is mailed to the wrong address or without your current name in October, don’t worry. As long as you update your voter registration online at registertovote.ca.gov before the October 21 deadline, your county will simply cancel the ballot that went to your old address and send you a new one.

And If If October gets busy and you miss the opportunity to re-register online on October 21, you can still update your voter registration—you’ll just have to do it in person. Go to your county election office or an open polling place and ask to register in person through same-day registration (also called conditional registration). You can do this until polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day, November 5.

How do I register to vote for the first time?

You can register to vote if you:

• A U.S. citizen and resident of California.
• At least 18 years old on election day

Persons currently serving a prison sentence in a state or federal prison for a serious crime are not permitted to vote or register to vote.

You can register to vote online at registertovote.ca.gov before the October 21 deadline. After that, you can register in person at your county election office or at an open polling place where you can register through same-day registration (also called conditional registration). You can do this until polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day, November 5.

If you are homeless or do not have a permanent address, you can still register to vote by providing a description of the place you most often stay if you do not have a street address, including cross streets. You can register to vote this way before October 21 through an online application or on the paper voter registration application, which you can pick up upon request at any Department of Motor Vehicle field office or at many post offices, public libraries, government offices, or your county election office (where you can also use same-day in-person registration).

My voter registration is OK, but do I need to request a mail-in ballot for the 2024 election?

No – every registered voter in California automatically receives a ballot in the mail.

You can use this ballot to cast your vote, or you can forget it and request a new one at a polling station. The ballot that arrived by mail will be invalid.

When will my ballot arrive?

October 7 is the deadline for Bay Area counties to begin mailing ballots, but many counties begin several days earlier. This means your ballot will most likely arrive in early to mid-October.

You can use both voterstatus.sos.ca.gov and the state’s Where’s My Ballot? tool to check if your ballot has been mailed.

Do I have to vote for the party I am registered with in the presidential election?

In a general election, you can vote for any candidate – not just the candidate of the party you are registered with. Unlike the primaries earlier this year, this means that even if you are a registered Republican, you can vote for the Democratic candidate and vice versa. The same is true if you are a “no party affiliation” voter (also known as an independent voter): You can vote for any presidential candidate on your ballot.