Elections and Voting Rights 2022: What You Can Do Now
This is our last chance to Get Out the Vote! If you are thinking of supporting specific candidates, go for it! But please consider the value of voter outreach with nonpartisan organizations. These groups often know best how to reach people of color and young people and may be better equipped to connect with voters who don’t identify with either major political party or are turned off by partisan politics. This guide gives you information about the nonpartisan organizations active in North Carolina. Take a look and then sign up!
If you’d like to take action together with others in CJJ, contact one of our Voting Rights groups. If you have questions or would like to talk with someone in order to figure out how to get started, contact [email protected].
NORTH CAROLINA 2022 ELECTIONS
IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND DATES
It’s time to vote!
ELECTION DAY is NOV 8! EARLY VOTING runs from October 20 - November 5!
FIVE things to know about casting your vote:
- Check your registration here. If you can’t find it, or it’s not up to date with the correct address, you can register and vote at the same time during Early Voting. It’s too late to update your registration for voting by mail or voting on Election Day, so use Early Voting!
- Find your polling location. From now through November 5 you can vote at any early voting site in your county. Click here to locate these sites. On Election Day, you must vote at your precinct polling location. To find the address, look up your registration here, and scroll to the bottom.
- Request a ballot if you want to vote by mail. To request a ballot, click here. If you want to download a form, click here. The deadline to request a ballot is November 1, but do it sooner! You need time to receive the ballot, fill it out in front of two witnesses or a notary, and return it. Completed ballots must be delivered to the county Board of Elections Office by 5 pm on November 8, or postmarked by 5 pm on November 8 and received by November 14. To track your ballot online, click here.
- Look up your sample ballot, so you can decide who to vote for before you head to the polls. District lines have changed, and there may be some races on the ballot you didn’t know about! To find your sample ballot, look up your voter registration by clicking here, then scroll down to the bottom.
- Read nonpartisan information about candidates at www.vote411.org or http://www.ncvoter.org
Races on the ballot include:
- The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives
- The N.C. General Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives)
- The N.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals
- Municipal and county elections in some locations, including judicial and sheriff races, bonds, etc. (Check your sample ballot!)
NOW TAKE ACTION AND GET OUT THE VOTE!
Help voters connect the dots between elections and the issues they care about. Engaging voters will help them understand the power of casting ballots. (30+ NC elections were decided by ONE VOTE in 2021.) Then make sure they are equipped with the information they need and help protect their votes.
Canvass, Phone Bank, or Text Bank
- Phone bank: Join Carolina Jews for Justice and Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry of North Carolina for a collaboration with the New North Carolina Project every Thursday evening - Faith in Action - until Election Day. Our phone banks contact registered voters of color across the state, and are guaranteed to be friendly, full of joy, and accessible to new, nervous, or experienced phone bankers! For info and to sign up, click here.
- Canvass, phone bank, or text bank with the New North Carolina Project to make sure people of color across the state are registered and know how to cast their ballots. Sign up here.
- Phone bank, text, canvass, work at a polling location, and more with the North Carolina Black Alliance, a statewide organization with the mission of “addressing policy and economic issues that will empower Black communities.” Sign up to volunteer here.
- Phone bank during Early Voting with You Can Vote! Make sure voters have the information they need to be ready to vote. Training provided. Dates: 11/3 & 11/7, 5:30 - 8:00 pm. Click here for information and registration.
- Text to voters of color with the Center for Common Ground (the organization associated with Reclaim Our Vote). For Information, go here. You can train yourself by watching a short video and then text on your own time, a few minutes here and there! Watch the Outreach Circle Texting Training video here. (Texting training starts at 8:35 mark).
Help Protect The Vote
- Assist voters at the polls during Early Voting as a Voting Rights Ambassador with You Can Vote! Help Get Out the Vote and protect the vote at the same time during Early Voting. Online training is provided on 10/22 and 10/27 and is required. Click here for information and registration.
- Be a Vote Protector with Democracy North Carolina on November, 4, 5, and 8. These important volunteers “help voters who encounter problems at the polls and ensure that every polling place is running as it should — sounding the alarm when something isn’t right.” To sign up for training (you either attend a virtual meeting or view a training video on your own), click here. The deadline to complete the training is Monday, October 24.
- Monitor social media to protect voters from online disinformation with one of two organizations. Common Cause holds two-hour shifts on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Protect the Vote holds their sessions on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Learn to be a Social Media Monitor to “listen to conversations in your community about voting issues, report mis/disinformation you see, and uplift trusted sources to voters who need it!” For more information, Click here for Common Cause and here for Protect The Vote.
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For after the election! Help make sure our County Boards of Elections (BOE) correctly count ballots by attending a ‘canvass’ meeting in one or more counties on November 18. Get training and sign up as a Local Election Advocate with Democracy NC by clicking here.
[Guide updated 10/18/2022]
GUIDE BY MARILYN HARTMAN
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