|
See also "FAQs for Candidates".
We appreciate all questions that you have for us and built this
list of Frequently Asked Questions (and those linked) from those we received. (To
return to this list, use your Browser's "back" button.)
About Voting and Registering to Vote
See also "Register to Vote" and "On Voting".
About Smart Voter
About the League of Women Voters
About Voting and Registering to Vote
How do I know whether I am registered to vote?
How do I register to vote?
Either contact your local county Elections Office (above) or find online forms to click, print, sign, and mail. Use these forms to register or change your existing voter registration.
How do I get an absentee or vote-by-mail ballot?
Where are early voting locations in my area?
What legislative or other voting districts am I in?
Just key in your address and zip code into "My Ballot" and you will see the current districts in which you reside. Smart Voter uses official district data provided by your government.
I'm already registered, but I have moved or want to change my party affiliation. What do I do?
You must get a registration form, fill it out, and turn it in by the deadline before the election in which you want to vote. See "Register to Vote".
You may also call a toll-free National hotline about voting irregularities: 1-866-OUR-VOTE. This will be answered by the Election Incident Reporting System. See also Video the Vote.
May I wear a button or teeshirt or anything else with the name of a candidate into the polling place?
The details may vary from state to state, but, in general, no one is allowed to campaign for a candidate or ballot measure within 100 feet of the entrance to a polling location. This means you should not wear a teeshirt or a campaign button or carry flyers, for example, about any candidate, political party, or ballot measure. Consult your state's elections laws for details.
About Smart Voter and the Ballot Lookup
If I enter my address and zip code and you give me a ballot, does this mean that I am registered to vote?
No. Smart Voter does not know if you are registered to vote. Contact your county's elections office to verify your registration status.
In what order do you list the candidates
for a contest?
The order of appearance for candidates in Smart Voter is random and
changes daily. We feel that this is the most fair to all candidates. No one candidate is ever always at the top or always at the bottom of a list.
Why doesn't the order of candidates match
my sample ballot?
The order or appearance in official printed ballots is randomly assigned,
but is different for various groups of precincts within the same county.
It is not practical to match the order assigned by election officials,
and we feel that our method of random order, varied periodically,
is the most fair to all candidates.
Why are some candidate names highlighted (linked) and others are not?
All candidates are listed on a personalized ballot, directory page or on a page for a given contest. If a candidate has accepted our invitation to provide information about themselves and their candidacy, a unique page is created for the candidate on the Smart Voter Web site. When that page is created, it is linked (and highlighted) from the appropriate lists of candidates.
The League of Women Voters never supports or opposes candidates or political parties.
If you would like to help us convince candidates to use Smart Voter,
please contact the candidates and tell them so.
Why don't you display information for all
candidates for a given contest?
All candidates for fully-supported counties have been invited by letter
to enter data into their Smart Voter web pages without cost to them.
We have volunteers who call candidates and attempt to get them to
take advantage of this method of getting information to the voters.
Some candidates still choose not to enter information about themselves
and their candidacy.
If you would like to help us convince candidates to use Smart Voter,
please contact the candidates and tell them so.
Why don't you provide ballot and contest
information for my county?
We'd love to be able to! To fully support a county we need data from
your local elections office to permit us to provide the ballot and
polling place lookup.
Additionally, we operate on a shoestring budget and do not have
the people power to support as many counties as we would like.
If you would like to help us, contact your local League of Women
Voters (in California, see "LWV
Offices in California").
What do you do with my address and zip
code?
The Smart Voter system will not use street addresses for any purpose
other than retrieving a customized ballot. The addresses will not
be disclosed nor used in any analysis or report.
Smart Voter uses your street address and zip code in order to
find your ballot and polling location. Your address is used to determine the precinct, which, in turn,
determines polling location and ballot type. Election officials
have furnished the Smart Voter system with the street address ranges
for precincts, and the corresponding polling place and ballot information.
We do not currently have the ability to hold individual addresses
or to check voter registration status.
If you believe that your street address and zip code should have
produced a ballot, you can report this problem. We must have your
street address and zip code to be able to determine if a problem
exists and how to fix it. We do not use this information for any
other purpose.
If I send you a feedback, what do you do
with my email address?
We use email addresses to allow a Smart Voter project team member
to respond to your feedback. We will not disclose your address to anyone except project
team members for the purposes of responding to you.
Do you use "cookies"?
Only if you key in your address and zip code. We save this in a cookie to make it easier for you to return to your ballot page. We never use the cookie for any other purpose.
Where do you get the data that you publish
on candidates?
Some basic information (name, occupation, contact information, e.g.)
is provided by the appropriate elections official. All substantive
candidate data has been provided by the candidates and neither the
League of Women Voters of California Education Fund nor any of its
partners in the Project take any responsibility for the form, content,
accuracy or truthfulness of the information provided, which, as common
carriers with respect to this data, we do not undertake to edit.
I keyed in my address and zip code, but
you didn't find my ballot. Why not?
If you live in a participating county in California, New York, Ohio, or Pennsylvania, then
be sure to send us a feedback reporting this problem. You will need
to give us your street address and zip code for us to be able to diagnose
the problem.
If you live in another county in California, New York, Ohio, or Pennsylvania, we do have
information on the "upper ticket" contests and candidates for statewide elections, but not
your local contests. File a problem report if your zip code was
not recognized.
About the League of Women Voters
Does your organization give a recommendation
for how to vote on ballot measures?
Does your organization give a recommendation
for how to vote on candidates?
No. The League of Women Voters never supports or opposes any political
party or any candidate.
|
