WASHINGTON — Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day, a non-partisan holiday to celebrate democracy in the United States.
With the November presidential election around the corner, election boards and community organizations across the country are making a big push to get people registered to vote.
The observance of the day was started in 2012 to make sure everyone can vote.
According to event organizers, many Americans are unable to vote because of things such as: missing a registration deadline, not updating their registration, or not knowing how to register.
There are going to be in-person and virtual events across the D.C. area to help get the word out.
“We’ll be doing things throughout the week. You can look at our calendar of events to see where we’ll be all week long doing various things," said Alice Miller, Executive Director of the D.C. Board of Elections. "The idea is to focus and to get everybody who is not registered, registered to vote. The last day to register in the district of Columbia is Oct. 13."
In fact, Oct. the 13 is the deadline to vote in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
If a resident misses registration in the District, they are still allowed to show up to the polls and do same-day registration as long as there is a valid proof of residency.
Early voting is already underway in Virginia. Maryland starts on Oct. 26 and early voting in D.C. begins the day after that on Oct. 27.