FAQs
If you aren’t sure you are registered to vote, or you have registered to vote and never received your Voter Notification Card (VNC) confirming your registration, you can check to see if you are registered to vote by using the self-verify voter registration lookup tool found under “Popular Services,” on our home page. You can also call the Registrar of Voters at (866)-430-VOTE (8683) and speak to our staff or visit the Secretary of State’s website and use their Voter Status tool to confirm your information.
Yes. The Secretary of State offers online voter registration services so you can register to vote or update your registration information at any time, day or night. Registering to vote online is also one way to, “Go Green” and save paper, in addition to receiving a link to view your County Voter Information Guide online during an election, rather than receiving a paper copy in the mail.
Yes.
You can still find a paper version of California’s voter registration form at any county Registrar of Voters, County Clerk or elections official’s office, or any post office, library, city hall, state university and college campuses, and any state or county partner offices that provide social services to the voters of their communities.
Under Section 2138 of the California Elections Code, anyone who helps people register to vote and collects completed forms has up to three (3) days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and state holidays, to deliver them to the county elections official or put them in the mail.
Yes. California has a Conditional Voter Registration (CVR) process that allows people who missed the initial 15-day deadline to register to vote and receive a Vote by Mail ballot to visit the Registrar of Voters’ office or any operating Vote Center and register to vote in person and receive a ballot. For more information, you may visit our page, “I missed the deadline to register to vote,” found under our register to vote tab.
A person can only be registered to vote from one address. If you live at more than one place, the address you should register and vote from is the residence that you intend to stay at, and that if you go away, you will return to that address. Any other place you own or stay is considered a temporary residence and not your voting residence. For further information, please see Section 349 and Article 2 of Chapter 1, Division 2 of the California Elections Code.
If you or someone in your family is temporarily away, you may provide that address as a temporary mailing address in order to receive election mail while away, such as the County Voter Information Guide (CVIG) and vote by mail ballot. It will be important to update your voter registration record and remove the temporary mailing address once you are no longer using it, by completing a voter action request form (VARF) or reregistering to vote.
A person can only be registered to vote from one address. If you live at more than one place, the address you should register and vote from is the residence that you intend to stay at, and that if you go away, you will return to that address. Any other place you own or stay is considered a temporary residence and not your voting residence. For further information, please see Section 349 and Article 2 of Chapter 1, Division 2 of the California Elections Code.
Yes, you can register and vote, even if you do not have a fixed place to live. You must, however, have a mailing address where your mail will be delivered and accepted.
California’s voter registration form provides an area for you to describe the location where you spend most of your time, such as cross streets and landmarks. The description must be enough for the Registrar of Voters to confirm your voting precinct and what is on your ballot. In the area on the Voter Registration Form asking for a mailing address, you must provide either a P.O. Box, Mail Drop Box, general Post Office delivery address, or other address where you will be able to receive your voting materials and other important election notices, such as important election announcements and address confirmation notices.
Yes, if you live and work in the same space, if your business is also your residence address and you have no other place you live, you may use that business address as your residence address in order to register to vote.
No. Post Office Box or Mail Drop Box numbers may only be used as your mailing address where you receive mail. A Post Office or Mail Drop Box may not be used as a residence address on a Voter Registration Form to register to vote.
Yes. Under California Election law, your election mail is non-forwardable. If you change your address you must update your registration record so you receive your voting materials and other important election announcements and notices. You may have already updated your voter registration information at the same time you updated your state driver’s license or identification card with the Department of Motor Vehicles. If you aren’t sure if you have already updated your voter registration record with your new address, you can check by using our voter registration lookup tool found under our Popular Services section of our website.
You may update your voter registration record by either completing a new voter registration form online or by filling out the voter action request form. Paper voter registration cards are available at local post offices, libraries, city halls, or any agencies in the county that provide social services. Voter registration forms are also available at college and university campuses.
The Registrar of Voters participates in the National Change of Address (NCOA) exchange program with the United States Postal Service and receives updates through the Secretary of State. However, simply changing your address with the Post Office or having your mail forwarded to your new address will not effectively update your voter registration.
Yes, if you change your legally given name for any reason, you must re-register to vote and provide a new signature for voting purposes. You may have already updated your voter registration information at the same time you updated your state driver’s license or identification card with the Department of Motor Vehicles. If you aren’t sure if you have already updated your voter registration record with your new name and signature, you can check by using our voter registration lookup tool found under our Popular Services section of our website.
You can re-register to vote online through the Secretary of State or by submitting a paper voter registration form in person or by mail. Paper voter registration forms are available at local post offices, libraries, city halls, or any agencies in the county that provide social services. Voter registration forms are also available at college and university campuses.
California Election Code Section 2150 requires your voter registration form to contain your given name at birth, which includes your first and last name, and can also include a middle name. You should wait until your name has been changed through court process or marriage to update your voter registration information with your new legal name.
Yes, if you wish to change your political party affiliation or become a no-party preference voter and chose not to disclose a party affiliation, you must re-register to vote.
You can re-register to vote online through the Secretary of State or by submitting a paper voter registration form in person or by mail. Paper voter registration forms are available at local post offices, libraries, city halls, or any agencies in the county that provide social services. Voter registration forms are also available at college and university campuses.
If the registration deadline has not passed, you may want to complete another voter registration forms as a precaution. You may also call us or your county elections official, who will ask for documentation you may have kept to confirm when you registered to vote. In many cases, the Registrar of Voters may have a way to verify the attempt to register through the Department of Motor Vehicles.
You may be asked to complete a new voter registration form or register to vote and receive a ballot under Conditional Voter Registration (CVR) if the 15-day deadline to register prior to the election you wish to vote in has passed. See question above, “I missed the deadline to register,” or visit our webpage on this subject.
No. Under the California Public Records Act (Government Code Section 6254.4) and California Election Law (Election Code Section 2194), residence address, telephone number, email address and precinct information contained in the voter registration record is confidential and not generally available to the public for a minimum of 100 years after the creation of the record (Elections Code Section 2194.1).
However, the law also allows certain individuals or groups to access voter records, if they meet the necessary qualifications to do so (Elections Code Section 2188). The application must also specify how the information will be used. Your signature, social security number, driver’s license number or other state issued identification number cannot be released.
Please read our voter privacy statement for more information.
Yes. Chapter 2 of Division 18 of the California Elections Code contains penal provisions for the violation of certain election laws relating to voter registration.
Yes. Chapter 2 of Division 18 of the California Elections Code contains penal provisions for the violation of certain election laws relating to voter registration.
Voters who meet certain criteria can apply to have their voter registration record completely confidential and made unavailable to authorized applicants. There are two ways to seek confidential voter status:
Through Order of the Superior Court. Under California Election Code Section 2166, someone may apply to the superior court to have their voter registration record made confidential (“confidential voter”) and made unavailable to even authorized applicants, by showing evidence that a life threatening circumstance exists to themselves or a member of their household.
Through the Secretary of State’s Safe at Home Program. California law allows someone to become a confidential voter through the Secretary of State’s Safe at Home Program. Application to be accepted into the Safe at Home Program is made through the Secretary of State.
Voters may qualify for the Safe at Home Program under the Address Confidentiality for Victims of Domestic Violence and Stalking Program (Elections Code Section 2166.5) or the Address Confidentiality for Reproductive Health Care Service Providers, Employees, Volunteers, and Patients program (California Government Code Title 1, Division 7, Chapters 3.1 and 3.2). Safe at Home offers reproductive health care service providers and victims of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, human trafficking, elder and dependent abuse a substitute mailing address to receive first class, certified, and registered mail. This address is also accepted by California state, county, and city government agencies in lieu of a residential or other mailing address where a victim can be tracked down.
Most recently, California’s Governor issued Executive Order N-80-20 making the Safe at Home Program available to local health officers and other public health officials. This is due to this group being subject to threats and other harassment in connection with COVID-19.
California Election law also permits a county to adopt similar special provisions for their public safety officers (Elections Code Section 2166.7 and Government Code Section 6254.24).
Any person granted confidentiality is considered a vote by mail voter for all subsequent elections. For more information, you can read our page on, “I have a life-threatening situation and need my information confidential.” You can find this information under our register to vote tab and following the link called, “I have a special circumstance.”
The courts receive information for jury duty from both the Registrar of Voters and the Department of Motor Vehicles. You might inquire with both offices to see how your record is noted. If you are registered to vote, for example, under one form of name (Joseph Smith) and with the DMV under another form of name (Joe Smith) then the jury commission may have your name in their database twice. This also occurs as some choose to only place a mailing address on their driver’s license while the voter registration form requires a residence address. This too can cause duplication. Our office now collects the driver’s license number on the voter registration form to assist in the reduction of this duplicate record.
Section 2201 of the California Elections Code lists the specific reasons for canceling voter registration, ranging from an individual’s signed request to be removed, upon proof the person is imprisoned for the conviction of a felony, upon verification of the death of the registrant, or upon proof the person has re-registered to vote in another county or state or is otherwise ineligible to vote. Article 1 of Chapter 3 of Division 2 of the California Elections Code provides more information on how registrations are maintained and potentially canceled.
No. Voting is a choice, not an obligation. Your voter record will remain active if your mail from the Registrar of Voters continues to be delivered to the address on record, and you respond to any address confirmation notices our office may send you. California’s Election Law specifically prohibits the periodic reregistration of voters (Elections Code Section 2123). See also question above, “What are the rules for canceling my voter registration?”
However, if your election mail is returned to the Registrar of Voters as undeliverable, your name may be placed on the Inactive list of registered voters and you will not receive your County Voter Information Guide or vote by mail ballot in future elections until your address is updated. See above, “If I move, do I need to reregister to vote?”
Yes. A person who has been impacted by the justice system can regain their voting rights once they have completed their term. Most recently, people released from state or federal housing who are continuing to serve their parole can regain their right to vote.
Under California Elections Code Section 2201, the county elections official, or Registrar of Voters is directed to cancel the voter registration of persons with a felony sentence and serving their terms in a federal or state prison. The superior court of the county provides this information to the Registrar of Voters in April and September of each year in order to preserve the voter rolls.
Once the individual is released from a federal or state housing, they can regain their right to vote by completing a new voter registration form.
Possibly, yes. Under California Election law, a person who is serving their felony term in a county jail or who was sentenced to parole can retain their right to vote. However, people who are serving time in a state or federal prison, or who are serving out the state or federal term while housed in a county jail or facility do not regain the right to vote until they are released.
The Registrar of Voters has an Emergency Ballot Delivery Program and works with local jails to assist eligible voters receive a vote by mail ballot while they are residing there.
Beginning in 2021, people who are released from state or federal prison or county jail but remain on parole can also have their right to vote restored by completing a new voter registration form.
In general, California’s Election Law presumes that every person who registers to vote is able to vote. Subsections (e) and (f) of Section 2102 both speak to voters with disabilities and voters with disabilities under conservatorship and the voter registration process.
A person can only be disqualified from voting if they are deemed mentally unable to do so by legal proceedings. Sections 2208 through 2211 of California Elections Code speaks to the rules for disqualifying and cancellation of voter registration due to mental status.
In general, California’s Election Law presumes that every person who registers to vote is able to vote. A person with a mental health condition can only be disqualified from voting if they are deemed unable to vote by legal proceedings. Section 2208 through Section 2211 of California Elections Code speaks to the rules for disqualifying and cancellation of voter registration due to mental status.
A person who is granted conservatorship or Power of Attorney for another person is only permitted to assist that individual in completing and submitting a voter registration form or voted ballot. The individual voter must attempt to sign or make a mark “X” to indicate their signature and intent to register and/or vote, and the person assisting must then sign as their witness. Having been granted conservatorship or power of attorney does not grant you the subsequent right to register to vote and/or cast a ballot in the name of or on behalf of that person.
Yes and no. You may assist them by completing the voter registration form, however, they must attempt to sign or make a mark “X” that you must then sign the form as their witness and the person who assisted them. Having been granted conservatorship or power of attorney does not grant you the subsequent right to register to vote and/or cast a ballot in the name of or on behalf of that person.
Yes. Visit our page, “I am a new resident to the State of California” for more information on how to register and vote.
Yes. Visit our page, “I am a new citizen” for more information on how to register and vote.
Yes. Visit our page on Primary Elections for more information on registering and voting during a primary.