Voting is easy

Voting keeps getting easier, but you can’t do it through mental telepathy. You have to take a few definitive steps.

Start by registering to vote, in most states at least a month before the election. You can’t just waltz into the voting precinct and decide to cast a ballot without registering first in most places. Well, you can if you live in one of six states with same-day registration: Idaho, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

You can submit an application for registration at drivers’ license bureaus, courthouses, and even public libraries in some states. You don’t even have to leave home if you download this federal application that works at any state.

The local registrar will tell you where to vote, called the precinct. It’s generally open on election day from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. If you are at work that whole time, generally, the law requires your company to give you time to vote.

If you don’t like crowds, most states allow some form of early voting, either at your precinct or at the local courthouse. Then there’s absentee voting, where you sign a form requesting a ballot you can complete at home for mailing back to the elections officials.