Toolkit: Ensure Your Vote is Counted

Thank you for taking action to ensure your vote is counted! The Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) is committed to ensuring that everyone has the right to vote. Below are four ways to vote and ensure your vote is counted on November 3.

• Request a ballot by mail and drop off your completed ballot at a ballot drop box, your election office, or polling location if your state allows those options: Using ballot drop boxes, or returning your ballot in person to your local election office or polling location, are secure and convenient ways to return your ballot. Call your local election office or Secretary of State for in-person ballot drop offs and for information about ballot drop boxes: https://www.usvotefoundation.org/vote/eoddomestic.htm 
• Vote in person, early: Check out https://www.vote.org/early-voting-calendar/ for a full guide to in-person early voting. This option is not for everyone, and we remain steadfast in the importance of following the CDC’s guidelines to determine whether voting in person will not risk your health. If you are voting in-person, voting early limits the risk of waiting in long, overcrowded lines that can put your health at risk.  If your health allows and you have the option to vote in-person before November 3, you should.
• Organize community ballot collections:  Republicans want you to believe that helping deliver signed and sealed ballots on behalf of others is “fraud” or “harvesting.” These accusations are untrue. Ballot collection is a safe, legal and secure way to return your ballot and the ballots of others who are at higher risk during the COVID-19 crisis. Find out who can legally collect and return ballots in each state here: https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/vopp-table-10-who-can-collect-and-return-an-absentee-ballot-other-than-the-voter.aspx
• Vote by mail: If you are high-risk or cannot do one of the above, vote by mail! Request an absentee ballot as soon as possible and mail your ballot as early as possible, ideally at least two weeks before Election Day to ensure your ballot is counted, even in states that have strict “postmarked by” rules. Click here to see your state’s requirements: https://www.vote.org/absentee-ballot-deadlines/

For detailed information on every state and what voting options are available to you, check out Vote.org’s state by state run down. After you’ve taken this pledge and made your voting plan, forward this page to your family, friends, and networks and ask them to take the pledge too. We are all in this together, and we can win if we make sure that we vote. The stakes have never been higher.