ForesterNet

Dear Lake Forest College Student:

Election Day in the United States is two months away. By the end of the day on November 3, 2020, well over one hundred million American citizens will have cast ballots for President and Vice President, 35 seats in the U.S. Senate, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, as well as statewide and local elections across the country.

We write to urge all eligible voters to participate in this fall's election. As you may know, the rate of voter participation among college-age students, between 18 and 25, is the lowest of any age cohort.  But your vote can make a difference, and especially so in close elections - and all indications suggest that the 2020 national election will be very close indeed.

To be eligible to vote you must be a U.S. citizen, aged 18 by the day of the election, and officially registered to vote with the clerk of your home state or county.  Since election laws are made at the state level, the particular details for registering and voting vary and you need to know the rules and deadlines for your home state. Here is a site where you can go to get information on where and how U.S. citizens can register to vote in your home state: https: https://vote.gov/.

If you are uncertain about either your registration status or current registration address, you can easily verify this information by going to the following site: https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration/.

If you need help navigating the voter registration and verification processes, and if you need help changing your voting address or with some other registration or voting matter, then feel free to contact us, as we are deputy voter registrars.  If we can't answer your questions, then perhaps we can find someone who can.

Best wishes. Stay safe. And vote!

Jim Marquardt, Associate Professor of Politics (marquardt@lakeforest.edu)

Carol Gayle, Associate Professor of History (gayle@lakeforest.edu)