Got questions about voting? Great! We’ve got answers. Look through the list below, and we’ll tell you everything you need to know.

• I’m registered to vote. Am I registered to vote? I think I’m registered to vote. 

Make sure right now. Visit the Virginia Department of Elections’s Citizen Portal. (Bookmark that link. We’ll be referring back to it a lot.) It’ll tell you your current registration status, and if you or anyone you know need to register, you can take care of it right there online. 

The deadline to register ONLINE to vote or update your voter information for the 2024 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY is February 12. However, you can still register to vote AND submit a provisional ballot at the registrar’s office during the early voting period or at your polling place on election day.

The deadline to register ONLINE to vote or update your voter information for the 2024 5th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY (if one is held) is May 28. However, you can still register to vote AND submit a provisional ballot at the registrar’s office during the early voting period or at your polling place on election day.

• What if I miss that deadline?

Good news! You can still register in person and cast a provisional ballot up through and including Election Day, thanks to the same-day voter registration law that passed in 2020 and went into effect October 2022.

• How do I know that this election is safe, and that my vote will get counted?

Learn about the many, many, many layers of security that help the Department of Elections’ nonpartisan and bipartisan officials work together to defend our democracy.

VOTING IN PERSON:

• I want to vote in person before Election Day.

Great news! You can do that without needing to give any excuse. Here in Albemarle County, you can vote early at the Albemarle County Office Building on 5th Street, south of I-64. Parking is free, and if you don’t have a car, you can take CAT Route 3 to get there. (In another county? Look up your nearest office online.) 

Early voting for the 2024 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY begins Friday, Jan. 19 and ends Saturday, March 2. During that period, the Albemarle County office is open for voting every weekday from 8:30 a.m to 5 p.m. There are no extended hours during the primary. For the last two Saturdays before the election — Feb. 24 and March 2 — the office will be open for voting from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

There are two different ballots for the presidential primary, Democrat and Republican. You can request either ballot since in Virginia, you are not registered by party.

Early voting for the 2024 5th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY (if there is more than one Democratic candidate) begins Friday, May 3 and ends Saturday, June 15. During that period, the Albemarle County office is open for voting every weekday from 8:30 a.m to 5 p.m. For the last two Saturdays before the election — June 18 and 15 — the office will be open for voting from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Bring one of these forms of ID and you’re golden.

• I want to vote in person on Election Day.

Excellent! Show up at your usual polling place anytime between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5 for the 2024 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY and Tuesday, June 18 for the 2024 5th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY (if one is held). Bring one of the required forms of ID — you are no longer restricted to bringing only a photo ID, although they’re still valid, too! — and remember to be kind to your heroic, civic-minded election workers! Don’t know where your polling place is? Look it up via the Citizen Portal. And for you last-minute voters, remember that if you’re in line to vote by 7 p.m., you can cast a ballot — so stay in line!

• What if I forget my ID?

Good news: You can still vote! According to the Virginia Department of Elections:

If you get to your polling place without acceptable ID, you can sign an ID statement affirming your identity, and you will be able to vote a regular ballot. If you do not sign an ID statement to affirm your identity, you may vote a provisional ballot. You will be provided instructions to ensure your vote will count.

VOTING BY MAIL:

• When is it too late to request a mail-in ballot?

Whether sent online or by mail, the local election office must receive your request for a ballot by 5 p.m. on Friday, February 23 for the 2024 presidential primary and by Friday, June 7 for the 5th Congressional District Democratic Primary (if one is held). Obviously, we recommend that if you want a mail-in ballot, you should request yours sooner than that to make sure you have enough time to return it successfully.

• When does the state start mailing out ballots? When will I get mine?

County and city election offices begin mailing out ballots on the day that early voting starts. If you already requested one, it should be on its way by that date. If you request one after that date, it should arrive within a week or so.

• How will I know my ballot is on its way? When I mail it in, how will I know when it arrives at the registrar’s office?

Yet again, the Citizen Portal is your friend. On your voter info page there, scroll down to the table marked “Vote by Mail Absentee,” and see when you requested a ballot, when the state mailed it to you, and when they received it from you.

You can track a mailed ballot on its path through the postal service with Ballot Scout, available for the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and statewide. Enter your name and address, and Ballot Scout will give you a live update of where your ballot is in the mailing process. You can also sign up for email and text updates as your ballot makes its way through the system! Try Ballot Scout now.

• What’s the deadline for mailing in a ballot?

Virginia law says that in order to count, your ballot must be postmarked by Election Day, and it must arrive at the registrar’s office by noon on the Friday after the election — for the presidential primary that is March 8 and for the 5th Congressional District Democratic Primary that is June 21. 

That’s good! It means more votes will get counted! Thank your Democratic legislators in the General Assembly for that one. Every mail-in ballot that the registrars have received by election night will be counted on election night. (The rest will get counted as they come in, up until the deadline.) Mail back your ballot ASAP after you get it.

If you’re a Junior, III, IV, etc., use a generational suffix if you’re registered at the same address with an elder or younger voter who shares your name. For example: If Hank Williams, Jr. and Hank Williams III both live at 123 Rowdy Friends Road, both Junior and his son need to add their respective generational suffixes to their names on their mail-in ballots; simply listing themselves as “Hank Williams” will leave election officials confused and their ballots disqualified.

Make sure you sign the envelope in which you seal your completed ballot. When your blank ballot arrives in the mail, you’ll find three other envelopes inside. Envelope A, sealed, holds your blank, unfilled ballot, ready for you to cast your vote. Envelope B waits to seal up your completed ballot. And once that’s done, Envelope B goes into a third pre-addressed envelope for you to mail back. By Virginia law, you must sign the outside of Envelope B in the properly marked places.

• Do I need a witness when I’m filling out my ballot? 

No, you no longer need a witness signature in Virginia. 

• Do I have to worry about signing my name correctly to ensure my ballot counts?

No, you don’t! Virginia does not use signature-checking as a ballot security measure (though the Commonwealth uses lots of other safety measures!), so you don’t need to fear that a slight difference in how you sign your name will disqualify you.

• If I make an error filling out the required information on my ballot, will it get thrown out?

If your local registrar’s office receives a mail-in ballot form with disqualifying errors, Virginia law requires it to notify you about the error within three days, via email, mail, or phone, and give you instructions on how to fix the error. Because of that three-day limit, they’ll let you know about errors for any ballots they receive up until Nov. 1. You’ll have until noon on the Friday after the election to correct your ballot and make sure it counts. 

Returning Your Mail-in Ballot:

• Do I need to put a stamp on the return envelope for my mail ballot? 

You don’t! The return postage is already paid on mail-in ballots. Just seal it up, drop it in the mail, and you’re good to go! 

• I still don’t trust the Post Office. Can I send my ballot by UPS or FedEx instead?

You can! Virginia law specifically allows commercial services to deliver ballots. But private companies don’t have the USPS’s authority to postmark mail, so if you do send in your ballot this way, it must arrive at the registrar’s office by 7 p.m. on Election Day to count.

• Can I only drop my own ballot in the box? Do other members of my family have to drop theirs off personally as well?

You can drop off your own ballot and a few others from your family members, if you need to. Just remember that you’re going to look pretty shady if you walk up to the drop-off box with a huge armful of ballot envelopes and start stuffing them in. Appearances matter!

• What if I mail in my ballot, but Election Day rolls around, and my mail-in ballot still hasn’t gotten to the registrar?
  You, my friend, can still vote. Grab a relevant form of ID. Head to your local polling place. Explain the situation and ask for a provisional ballot. If your mail-in ballot arrives in time, it gets counted, and your provisional ballot gets tossed. If your mail-in ballot is late, your provisional ballot counts. You still only get one vote, but either way, your vote counts.

Still Have Questions?

If you need reminders on the go, download and print out a Voter Pocket Guide from the Virginia Department of Elections.

• What’s the difference between mail-in ballots, in-person early voting, or voting on election day? Do some votes get counted differently than others?

The only difference between them is how they arrive at your local election office. A ballot is a ballot is a ballot. They’re all votes. They all count. Every ballot that has reached your local registrar’s office by the close of polls on Election Day — whether it arrives by mail, gets dropped off in a secure drop-off box at your local registrar’s office, is cast in person during early voting, or gets cast at polling places on Election Day — gets counted that same day.

• So why do I hear about some votes getting counted later? How can I make sure my vote gets counted on Election Day?

Under Virginia law, two types of ballots will get counted in the days following the election:

1. Late-arriving or incomplete mail-in ballots. Some mailed ballots that get cast on Election Day won’t arrive at the registrar until a few days later. (See “What’s the deadline for mailing in a ballot?” above.) That’s good, actually! It means more votes get a chance to count! But Virginia obviously can’t count ballots it doesn’t have, so it’ll count those late-arriving ballots as they trickle in, up to the final deadline for them to arrive.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Want to make sure your ballot’s counted sooner? Just mail it in or drop it off early enough to ensure that it gets to the registrar’s office by the close of polls on Election Day. Incomplete ballots received before Nov. 5 won’t be counted on election night, but as long as you get your fixes back by Nov. 8, the Friday after the election, they’ll still be counted in the end.

2. Provisional ballots. If voters cast a provisional ballot at the polls — say, if they got a mail-in ballot but lost it, or it didn’t arrive — they’ll have to wait a few days until that final deadline, just to make sure no other valid ballot from the same voter has also arrived. That’s also good! We don’t want anyone voting twice, intentionally or otherwise. Want to make sure your ballot’s counted sooner? Try to avoid casting a provisional ballot unless you’re sure it’s the only way you can successfully vote.