The Fulcrum is publishing a series of articles to help people navigate the shifting laws that govern elections. This, the second article, covers voter registration.
There’s a process to participating in an election. While the goal is to cast a ballot and have a say in the government there are some steps required to reach that point. Today, we’re going to review the voter registration process.
Eligible Americans need to register with their state, often in advance of Election Day, in order to vote. This is the first step in confirming eligibility and protecting against voter fraud. In many states, the process can be completed in person, by mail or online depending on what their state offers. Many states also allow people to register on Election Day and then immediately cast a ballot.
And if you believe you’re already registered? It’s still a smart idea to confirm your status through your state’s election office. You can also confirm where you will vote, check or change your party preference, and request a mail-in ballot (depending on the state).
The challenge comes in figuring out the rules in your state.
Each state has its own set of election laws, including their own deadlines and options for registering to vote. It can be very difficult to decipher deadlines within a given state, especially with recent changes to the voting process that have affected identification requirements, postal voting and early voting periods, among other things.
States like Delaware, Georgia and Missouri have day-specific deadlines for registering in person, by mail, and online (the fourth Saturday before Election Day, the fifth Monday before Election Day, and fourth Wednesday prior to Election Day, respectively).
Similarly, New Hampshire has an unusual protocol for voter registration that requires people to register either in person or by mail on Election Day. But if individuals would like to vote earlier, there’s an eight-day registration window that opens 13 days before Election Day.
Some states have a set deadline for registration, except when the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday. For example, Arkansas has a deadline of 15 days before Election Day except if it falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. In such a case, the deadline falls on the next business day. Along the same lines, Mississippi requires in-person and mail voters to register 30 days before the election, unless the 30th day falls on a Sunday or legal holiday and the deadline moves to the following business day.
States also may have different requirements for postal registrations. Usually, states will set deadlines for voter registration to be postmarked by a certain date. However, states like Nebraska and North Carolina account for illegible postmarks and set later deadlines for registrations to be received rather than going by a postmark. Some states also may have set deadlines for both a postmark and a received-by date.
Additional reading:
Nine states that require voter registration do not offer an online option: Arkansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
The outlier in this process is North Dakota; the state does not require voter registration at all and, instead, only requires acceptable identification for a voter to be eligible to cast a ballot in the election.
Twenty-one states offer voter registration on Election Day. However, states will usually require a form of identification or even proof of residency to be eligible to vote.
To ease confusion and difficulties around voter registration, we’ve provided Voter and Election Day Registration Deadlines by states, demonstrated by this map. Please note that it is always a good idea to double check with your state’s voter guides to ensure all dates, times, and information are correct.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks to voters at a town hall at the Elks Lodge 188 on June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine.
McConnell and Platner both feel entitled
The two men could not be more different. One, a Republican, octogenarian, seven-term Southern senator, the other a progressive, millennial Maine oysterman who’s never spent a day in elected office.
But Mitch McConnell, the senior senator from Kentucky who’s been MIA for the past few weeks and Graham Platner, the Maine Senate candidate who’s facing calls to drop out of his race against Sen. Susan Collins, apparently do have something in common: an outsized sense of entitlement.
McConnell, who is 84 and not running for reelection, has been hospitalized for three weeks, and yet we still don’t fully know what he was admitted for or what his condition is. Per CNN, “his office has not disclosed a medical reason for the hospitalization or provided specifics on his health status beyond saying last week that he ‘continues to improve’ and ‘is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters.’ ”
While several legislators have said they’ve talked to him and insist he sounds strong, others have said they are completely in the dark. One MAGA influencer, Laura Loomer, posted ”High level source close to the White House tells me ‘Mitch McConnell is officially brain dead. He’s not coming back.’ ”
Meanwhile, up in Maine, Platner has been artfully dodging calls from his own party to drop out of his race after several allegations of misconduct from women, including a sexual assault allegation from a former girlfriend, came to light. While Platner, who has managed to survive a Nazi-tattoo scandal, a sexting scandal, and several old tweets scandals, denies the allegations, he has not quit.
High-profile Democrats including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer, the latter of whom had unsuccessfully hand-selected Maine Gov. Janet Mills to face Collins instead of Platner, have urged Platner to drop out, while other Dems have accused him of trying to influence the picking of his replacement.
Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson released a statement Tuesday, which said in part:
“Unfortunately, Graham Platner’s team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner’s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate nor in determining what this process looks like.”
Both incidents show a deep lack of accountability to voters, who in one case deserve to know whether their senator is capable of performing his duties, and in another deserve a candidate who isn’t being accused of crimes, bigotry and deception.
The offensive and odious entitlement of both McConnell and Platner stands out not because it is particularly unique among today’s political class. Tom Kean, the New Jersey GOP congressman, missed more than 100 votes, only sharing after a three-month mystery absence that he was dealing with depression.
Former President Joe Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin failed to disclose a hospitalization for prostate cancer surgery, flouting the established rules for Cabinet members and senior U.S. officials.
From Biden’s insistence on running for reelection despite his obvious cognitive and political weaknesses to Trump’s brazen flouting of laws and norms, few politicians seem to appreciate that their public service job comes with responsibilities to constituents, including transparency and honesty.
But both parties increasingly justify the chicanery, because the stakes of winning elections and keeping power are simply too high. But that’s no excuse. If we’ve learned anything over the past decade, it’s that character and accountability do, in fact, matter. And when we, the voters, stop caring about it, well, so do they.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.