More than 950,000 people in Georgia could soon be getting mailers from a Washington-based voting advocacy group with instructions on how to register to vote, part of a multistate effort to boost voting rolls ahead of this year’s presidential election.
The Voter Participation Center is aiming its efforts at communities of color, unmarried women and millennials—groups historically underrepresented in voting counts. Past registration efforts, however, have at times been met with confusion — including in 2012, when the group mailed registration forms addressed to people's deceased pets.
The group uses commercially collected information and says it has since refined its mailing process. It also says residents contacted in error can ask to be removed from its list at 202-659-9570.
In all, the center plans to mail more than 7.4 million voter registration forms to residents in 13 states: Georgia, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
How to register or check voting status
Anyone can confirm his or her voter status online through the Georgia Secretary of State's online "my voter page" website (www.mvp.sos.ga.gov/MVP/mvp.do). If you want to register on your own, here's how:
- For online voter registration, go to the secretary of state's website and, under the elections tab, click "Register to Vote."
- Download a voter registration application (http://sos.ga.gov/index.php/Elections/register_to_vote), mail in the completed form.
- Check the "voter registration" box when you renew or apply for your driver's license.
- College students can obtain Georgia voter registration forms, or the necessary forms to register in any U.S. state from their school registrar's office.
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