Here’s A Ten Step Plan For Casting Your Vote

I have a confession to make: When I was a young adult, eligible to vote, I didn’t do it. For years, I did not vote and I am not even certain I was registered to vote.

If anyone had asked me then if I thought it was a good thing to vote, I would have said yes. But as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. 

More importantly, the road to bad public policies is also paved with good intentions. We know there are tens of millions of good people who sit out every election, even the most consequential ones. 

I was one of those people and things only changed for me when I made a plan to vote. And now that I vote in every election, it is still imperative that I make a plan.

Making a plan to vote begins to move it from a good intention to an actual accomplishment. Moreover, making a plan minimizes the risk of missing your vote because of unforeseen circumstances, maximizes how well prepared you will be to make your choices confidently, and expands the degree to which you can mobilize other voters.

So here is a suggested 10-point “Plan to Vote” that I recommend to every voter:

1. Check your Voter Registration at www.CheckYourVoterRegistration.com. Make sure all the details are correct and fix what has to be fixed.
2. Visit your state election website and find the information for your county and voting district. Verify your regular polling place.
3. On that same site, find out when early voting begins in your state and county, and the location where the polling place for you would be for early voting. (It may not be the same as your usual polling place.)
4. Mark your calendar to vote as soon as possible after early voting begins. Choose the day on which you will vote.
5. If circumstances require you to use an absentee ballot, find out from your state election website or your local board of elections when and how they are available, arrange to get yours, and decide what date you’re going to fill it out.
6. If you will vote in person, figure out what time of day you will go and how you will get there.
7. Have a Plan B in case something happens that day with sickness, weather, car trouble, mechanical problems at the polling place, etc. Decide in advance what alternate day you will be able to go vote.
8. Determine if there are others who can come with you.
9. Find your ballot in order to see exactly what it will look like. Study it carefully. Use your state election website, Ballotpedia.org, or iVoterGuide.com. Research each candidate and ballot initiative.
10. Find out from your state election website or your local board of elections how you can track your ballot once it is cast.

As the expression goes, every vote counts. But the reality is bigger: Every ballot counts. To ensure the safety of every ballot, also consider becoming a poll watcher or a poll worker.

A poll watcher is an election observer whose job is to monitor the elections without violating voter privacy. Poll watchers can be members of a political party, pollsters, candidate representatives or representatives of federal and state agencies.

Every state has its own laws about who can become a poll watcher, and how, so a good place to start is at the United States Election Assistance Commission.

Poll workers actually staff the polling places on and before Election Day. They set up and prepare the site, welcome voters, verify registrations and many other tasks. Head to this page at the United States Election Assistance Commission to find out how to apply in your state and county.

Some states are still conducting their primary elections, but voting in the 2024 General Election begins in just a few weeks, as North Carolina makes the early ballots available on Sept. 6. 

Think of Election Day as the first day of early voting in your state and plan accordingly. If a significant portion of voters decide to make a plan, we will end up with better turnout and with election victories at every level.

And that’s something worth planning for.

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Frank Pavone is national director of Priests for Life and the national pastoral director of Rachel’s Vineyard Ministries and the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. The books he has authored include Abolishing Abortion and Proclaiming the Message of Life.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.