OLYMPIA — For National Voter Registration Day, the Office of the Secretary of State will host a voter registration station at Gonzaga University Tuesday, Sept. 19, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Students will be able to sign up as new voters or update their registrations at the registration table in the rotunda of the John J. Hemmingson Center, 702 East Desmet Avenue, Spokane.
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs will spend Tuesday on the Gonzaga campus and at Spokane Falls Community College to meet with classes and student leadership and discuss the importance of civic participation.
“Registering to vote is the first and easiest step toward building lifelong habits of civic participation,” Secretary Hobbs said. “I encourage Washingtonians to celebrate this National Voter Registration Day by taking this first critical step toward shaping your communities and futures, and helping others do the same.”
All eligible citizens can register online at VoteWA.gov using a Washington state driver’s license, permit, or ID. When registering or updating their registration, voters can sign up to receive text messages from county election offices as they receive and accept ballots.
The voter registration forms available in 23 languages at sos.wa.gov/elections can be downloaded, printed, and returned for registration by mail. Eligible residents may also register in person at their county elections office.
To participate in the Nov. 7 General Election, the deadline to register online or by mail is Oct. 30. However, people can register in person during business hours and up to 8 p.m. on Election Day at a county elections office.
National Voter Registration Day is a nationwide, nonpartisan civic holiday aimed at encouraging Americans to register to vote. To learn more, visit nationalvoterregistrationday.org.
Washington’s Office of the Secretary of State oversees a number of areas within state government, including managing state elections, registering corporations and charities, and governing the use of the state flag and state seal. The office also manages the State Archives and the State Library, documents extraordinary stories in Washington’s history through Legacy Washington, oversees the Combined Fund Drive for charitable giving by state employees, and administers the state’s Address Confidentiality Program to help protect survivors of crime.