Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,
Today is National Voter Registration Day. Voting is a cornerstone of our democracy, an essential duty of citizenship, and we encourage you to be ready to cast your ballot on Election Day, November 3, 2020.
To register to vote you must be a United States citizen who is 18 on or before the date of the election. You must also have lived in your precinct for at least 30 days before the election, November 3, and not claim the right to vote elsewhere. For those students who are not citizens of the U.S., I hope that you will follow the election and watch the results so that you can learn more about the political process in this country.
It is understandable that registering to vote and voting for the first time may feel like daunting tasks. So Illinois Tech is today launching Illinois Tech Votes, a new website filled with helpful, nonpartisan resources, including how to confirm if you are already registered to vote, how to complete a registration, how to vote by mail, how to vote early, how to find a local polling location, and how to request an absentee ballot.
If you are eligible to vote and have not yet registered, I urge you to do so. Under Illinois law, you may register up through the day of the election as well as at your polling station on the day of the election. You can register to vote or update your records, which you must do if you have moved or changed your name since you last registered, in the following ways:
- Online at https://ova.elections.il.gov before 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, October 18;
- By mail by completing and mailing before 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, October 6, an Illinois Voter Registration Application, which can be downloaded from https://app.chicagoelections.
com/documents/general/NVRA- Form275-English.pdf; - Until Sunday, October 18, during normal business hours, at any Secretary of State’s office where drivers’ licenses and state IDs are issued but only if you are seeking to obtain a new license or ID;
- Until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, October 6, through an active deputy registrar affiliated with a local organization, such as a political party, ward organization, or other state-certified body;
- From Monday, October 19 through Monday, November 2, in person at any of the estimated 51 early voting locations; additional details, including the actual location of all early voting sites, is at https://www.chicagoelections.
gov/en/early-voting.html; and - On Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, in person at the precinct polling place assigned for your home address; information on polling places can be found at https://chicagoelections.gov/
en/your-voter-information.html .
As a related reminder, the deadline to complete the U.S. Census is September 30, 2020. Call home and be sure you and your family have been counted. International students living in the U.S. are supposed to #BeCounted, too. Click here to complete the census today.
Thank you for taking the time to participate in these critical civic duties.
Sincerely,
Katherine Stetz
Vice Provost, Student Affairs and Dean of Students
Illinois Institute of Technology