What to Do if Your Vote Is Challenged on Election Day

You need to be prepared so you can get your I VOTED sticker on Election Day!VladSt/Getty Images

With themidterm electiondrawing close, it's important to know your rights in case your vote is challenged.

The best way to ensure thatyour vote is countedis to advocate for yourself. I'm a civil rights attorney and lecturer for theUniversity of Southern California's undergraduate civil rights advocacy initiative, Agents of Change. Here are several straightforward ways to ensure your vote is counted and two practical remedies for you to consider if your vote remains challenged.

A major part of ensuring that you can vote is doing the necessary preparation before you even get to the polling place.

Verify That You're Registered to Vote

Before you vote, you need to ensure that your voter registration is current. You canverify your registration statusonline. If you can't get online, then call your local election office or a voter help line like the ones listed in the hotline section below.

If you find you're not registered, search the National Conference of State Legislatures for your state'sonline voter registration application. If you need to do this in person, then call your local election office for instructions.

在这一点上,你可能已经错过了你的状态adline for voter registration. But it may not be too late to register in others.

Many states allowsame-day registrationat polling sites. Check if yours does. If it does, and you need to register, ask the poll worker at the correct polling location for a same-day registration form; complete the form and then ask for aconditional ballot. A conditional ballot allows election officials to count your vote after verifying your voter eligibility. If you can't research online, you can call your local election office to find out if you can register on Election Day.

Gather Documents to Verify Your Identity

Voter ID laws generally cover in-person voting, not absentee ballots or mailed ballots.

If you live in a state that requires identity verification to vote in person, gather the required documents — which may range from driver's licenses to bank statements with identifying information — before traveling to the correct polling place. You can find your county election office's contact informationhere. TheNational Conference of State Legislatureswebsite includes a table listing each state's acceptable ID documents and possible exceptions for some folks. You may also call your local election office to find out what's required.

Find Your Correct Polling Location

You can ensure that you're headed to the right polling place with thisPolling Place Locator toolfrom Vote.org. Or call your county election office to find your polling place and its hours of operation; you can look up your county's election office contact informationhere.

Once you know your polling place and its hours, you can go there and check in. In most cases, you'll be handed a ballot, shown where to vote, and asked to put your ballot in a machine or a box, and then you can go merrily along your way.

But the moment of check-in is where things might go wrong.

Problems at Your Polling Place

Here are potential vote challenges and ways to overcome them.

Out-of-order polling machines. If you're asked to leave because of malfunctioning machines, don't. Instead, ask for a paper ballot.
You're in line and officials announce the polls have closed. If you're in line at the polling location before it closes, don't let them turn you away at closing time if you haven't voted. You have the legal right to vote under those circumstances, sostay in line and wait to cast your ballot.
You're not on the registered voters list. If you're told you can't vote because your name is not on the voter roster,问调查网站工人再次检查and to check what's called the list of supplemental voters. If they still can't find your name, ask the poll worker to verify that you're at the right location.
Someone claims you shouldn't be allowed to vote. If your voting eligibility remains challenged after ensuring you're at the right polling location,ask to cast a provisional ballot, which is available in every state except Idaho and Minnesota. You can find details about your particular state's provisional ballot ruleshere. Track your provisional ballothere.

Call an Election Hotline for Help

If you need a provisional ballot and aren't given one, call an election hotline for help. Here are four hotlines, run by members of the nonpartisanElection Protection coalitionthat you can call:

English:The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)
Spanish:The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Education Fund, 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682)
Asian Languages:Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote, 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683)
Arabic:Arab American Institute, 844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287)

Report Any Voter Intimidation

如果有人tries to scare you into voting — or not voting — for a candidate, stand your ground and demand a ballot from the poll site, call a hotline above to report the intimidation, and file a claim with the FBI later by phone at 800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or online attips.fbi.gov.

If you are still blocked from voting, consider legal action — but get advice on your exact situation from one of the hotlines, which have free lawyers on hand. It's a good idea to write down the names of people who prevented you from voting and to ask people who witnessed the incident for their contact information.

This article is republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. You can find theoriginal article here.

Karen Figueroa-Clewettis a civil rights attorney, a lecturer in the department of political science and international relations, and program manager of the USC Dornsife Agents of Change: Civil Rights Advocacy Initiative, the nation's first undergraduate civil rights clinic.