With just 44 days until Election Day, now is more important than ever to check your voter registration status. Your vote counts and it deserves to enact your voting rights on November 3rd. Not everyone understands how the government divides its powers, and how the voting system works. Here is a simple break down of the process.
We start with three branches, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, which all have separate roles. These roles work together and form The United States of America’s government.

It is important to know that this break down is not only for our Federal Government, but it replicates itself in State and City Government as well.
Each state has its own Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branch that follows the same structure as the federal government. Your Governor, the President of your state, is enacting our laws created by the State Senate and Representatives that are also elected on by the people of that state. Also, states have their own Supreme Court leading the state’s judicial branch.
On your county and city level the Mayor, School Board officials, Police Chief, and County Court Judges make and enact local laws. The laws these individuals place help to determine what school gets funded, what road gets fixed, what neighborhood gets patrolled. They affect individuals in their everyday life. All of these positions are elected by voters, or appointed by the Mayor.
What makes the presidential election different from other elections is the process of the Electoral College. In the Electoral College, each state is appointed “electors,” based on the number of representatives each state has in the Senate and House of Representatives.
In 48 states and the District of Columbia, the winner gets all the electoral votes from that state. Maine and Nebraska allow for their electoral vote to be split. The presidential candidate receives the majority electoral votes, 270, becomes president of The United States.
Only twice in modern history has the candidate who won the popular vote and not won the electoral vote. Those two instances were in 2000 with George W. Bush and Al Gore Jr. Then again in 2016 with Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Now that this simple break down has shown you the importance of voting, and how your vote matters. Deadlines for registering for voting are approaching faster than ever.
With election day rapidly approaching, voters also need to know who is running for their state and local elections.
A great resource for elections is Ballotpedia.org. Here you can find tons of information like who will be on your ballot for any upcoming election. All you have to do is simply put in your address, where you’re registered to vote.
The sample ballot that the website produces shows laws that attempting to pass along with bios of each candidate, as long the candidate had filled out the. Ballotpedia is your one-stop shop for all election news and a great resource for those who are not as familiar with politics.
It is time to make our country everything we want. It all starts with a vote on November 3rd!
table { border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0; width: 100%; border: 1px solid #ddd; } th, td { text-align: left; padding: 8px; } tr:nth-child(even){background-color: #f2f2f2}State Voter Registration Deadlines
State | In-Person Registration Deadline | Mail-In Registration Deadline | Online Registration Deadline |
---|---|---|---|
Alabama | October 19, 2020 | October 19, 2020 | October 19, 2020 |
Alaska | October 4, 2020 | October 4, 2020 | October 4, 2020 |
American Samoa | October 5, 2020 | ||
Arizona | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 |
Arkansas | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | |
California | November 3, 2020 | October 19, 2020 | October 19, 2020 |
Colorado | November 3, 2020 | October 26, 2020 | October 26, 2020 |
Connecticut | November 3, 2020 | October 27, 2020 | October 27, 2020 |
Delaware | October 10, 2020 | October 10, 2020 | October 10, 2020 |
District of Columbia | November 3, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | |
Florida | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 |
Georgia | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 |
Guam | October 23, 2020 | October 23, 2020 | October 23, 2020 |
Hawaii | November 3, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 |
Idaho | November 3, 2020 | October 8, 2020 | October 9, 2020 |
Illinois | November 3, 2020 | October 6, 2020 | October 18, 2020 |
Indiana | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 |
Iowa | October 24, 2020 | October 24, 2020 | October 24, 2020 |
Kansas | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 |
Kentucky | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 |
Louisiana | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | October 13, 2020 |
Maine | November 3, 2020 | October 19, 2020 | |
Maryland | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 |
Massachusetts | October 24, 2020 | October 24, 2020 | October 24, 2020 |
Michigan | November 3, 2020 | October 19, 2020 | October 19, 2020 |
Minnesota | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 |
Mississippi | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | |
Missouri | October 7, 2020 | October 7, 2020 | October 7, 2020 |
Montana | November 3, 2020 | October 26, 2020 | |
Nebraska | October 23, 2020 | October 16, 2020 | October 16, 2020 |
Nevada | October 6, 2020 | October 6, 2020 | October 29, 2020 |
New Hampshire | November 3, 2020 | ||
New Jersey | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | |
New Mexico | October 6, 2020 | October 6, 2020 | October 6, 2020 |
New York | October 9, 2020 | October 9, 2020 | October 9, 2020 |
North Carolina | October 9, 2020 | October 9, 2020 | October 9, 2020 |
North Dakota | |||
Northern Mariana Islands | September 4, 2020 | ||
Ohio | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 |
Oklahoma | October 9, 2020 | October 9, 2020 | |
Oregon | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 |
Pennsylvania | October 19, 2020 | October 19, 2020 | October 19, 2020 |
Puerto Rico | September 24, 2020 | ||
Rhode Island | October 4, 2020 | October 4, 2020 | October 4, 2020 |
South Carolina | October 2, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | October 4, 2020 |
South Dakota | October 19, 2020 | October 19, 2020 | |
Tennessee | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 |
Texas | October 5, 2020 | October 5, 2020 | |
Utah | October 23, 2020 | October 23, 2020 | October 23, 2020 |
Vermont | November 3, 2020 | November 3, 2020 | November 3, 2020 |
Virgin Islands | October 3, 2020 | ||
Virginia | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 |
Washington | November 3, 2020 | October 26, 2020 | October 26, 2020 |
West Virginia | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | October 13, 2020 |
Wisconsin | October 30, 2020 | October 14, 2020 | October 14, 2020 |
Wyoming | October 19, 2020 | October 19, 2020 |