In many countries, voting and registering to vote is pretty simple.  Every eligible person is virtually automatically registered to vote in Sweden. Voting is compulsory in Australia. In Estonia, voters go online to cast their ballot.

But in the United States, it’s anything but easy and accordingly, the most recent information on voter registration rates shows that only 74% of eligible Americans were registered to vote. 

We’ll help you make sure you’re ready to cast a ballot with these five tips.

1. Check your voter registration status. You can do this a few different ways. One way is to visit voter registration nonprofit groups, like Global Citizen partner HeadCount. Or you can look up your state’s voter registration page, where you can check your status (like this one in Michigan). 
   
   
2. If you aren’t registered to vote — go ahead and register! You can do this through your state page using your permanent address. This means if you’re a student studying at college, you can use your parent’s address to register. Or if you consider your university address your permanent address, you can use that one — but note that you’ll need to update your voter registration if you later move. 
   
   Keep in mind: You must ensure you are eligible to vote. In the US, you must be a lawful citizen and be at least 18 years of age. Other requirements vary by state — for example, in New York, you must be a resident of where you are living for at least 30 days before the election, and not be in prison for a felony conviction. Look these requirements up before you register.
   
   
3. Verify exactly where you vote. Check your polling address on your state’s voter registration page to make sure it hasn’t changed since you last voted (see an example here for California). If there’s an upcoming election, you can also confirm if and when early voting will be available, or request your mail-in ballot if you plan to use one.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Look up any upcoming elections. Just because there isn’t a presidential election in 2025 doesn’t mean there aren’t state or local elections. In fact, there are thousands of elections this year at the federal, state, and local level. Because voter turnout in years without a presidential election tends to be lower, it’s even more important that you show up and cast your ballot. 
   
   There are some important races this year — N.J. is electing a new governor; Virginia’s gubernatorial primaries are in June. This past April, voters in Wisconsin chose a new state Supreme Court justice and enshrined voter ID laws into their constitution in an election that drew national attention because the results had the power to shape the state’s future. So take a look at what’s happening in your local area with this state-by-state breakdown of races near you.
   
   
5. Know where you can find answers to all of your voting questions. Can you vote if you’re a convicted felon? What if you’ve just become a US citizen? How do you vote if you’re out of the country on Election Day? These resources can help you with questions:

• Vote.Gov has FAQs on voting rights all over the US
• Your individual state’s voter registration or Board of Elections webpage 
• HeadCount’s very handy Voter Education Hub, where you can look up the meaning of every election official’s title

There you have it! With these tips, any eligible American should be ready to vote. To get more frequent updates on when elections are happening around the country, follow HeadCount on Instagram and check your voter registration status today!

This series is part of Global Citizen’s “Take Action Toolkit” where we share tips and tricks for raising your voice and making it heard on the issues you care about. Check it out here!