Can You Register To Vote In More Than One State

On Sept. 22, social media was flooded with reminders to register to vote or check your registration status in award of National Voter Registration 24-hour interval. With the 2020 U.South. presidential ballot less than two months away, yous don't want to find yourself unable to bandage a ballot because y'all didn't take the necessary steps to get ane.

However, some citizens are expressing business organization and confusion over their current statuses — namely those who accept gone through the registration process at least twice. Is it illegal to register more than one time? Hither's what our inquiry uncovered.

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What happens if you lot register to vote twice?

Every land has their own set of voting laws, just y'all tin can register to vote as many times every bit you desire using the aforementioned address. If yous move betwixt elections, it'southward important to reregister with your updated information.

If yous have homes in two dissimilar states, the county clerk or registrar offices will typically enquire that you indicate a primary residence, which is where all your general election material will be sent. According to the FBI, falsifying data on voter registration forms is a federal offense.

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Currently, 31 states and Washington, D.C. prohibit voting twice in the same election, only do not prohibit voting in more than one state. So, conceivably, an private could cast a ballot in 2 divide local elections that are taking place in two different states, but only vote one time in the presidential election.

If you lot exercise run into problems on Ballot 24-hour interval, you can always bandage a provisional ballot in person, which are used to record a vote when there are questions surrounding a specific voter'southward eligibility. Before a provisional ballot can be counted, any issues relating to that individual's eligibility must be resolved.

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Voting twice is a much bigger deal than registering to vote twice.

Information technology is federally prohibited to vote more in one case in the U.S., but each land handles voter fraud differently. For case, in some places, double voting can net you serious jail time, but in others information technology'southward merely a misdemeanor (depending on the circumstances).

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If y'all vote by mail and in person, similar President Donald Trump suggested North Carolinians do on ii separate occasions, it'due south unlikely that both ballots will exist counted, The New York Times states. In fact, you lot probably won't fifty-fifty get in the door on Election Day.

"Many states have established safeguards to preclude anyone from voting in person later on voting by post, using updated poll books, provisional ballots, and other systems both to protect the integrity of the vote and the voter from unwittingly or unintentionally voting twice," the publication wrote in a Sept. ix article.

Following Trump's comments in early September, the N Carolina Land Board of Elections was forced to effect a argument clarifying that it is illegal to vote twice in an ballot, calculation that doing and then is a Class I felony in the state.

"Attempting to vote twice in an election or soliciting someone to do so besides is a violation of N Carolina law," executive director Karen Brinson Bong explicitly stated.

On that note, don't forget to vote (legally)!