Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day, an annual, nonpartisan event organizers say has signed up more than 4.5 million Americans across the country to vote over the past decade.
The effort is the country’s largest single-day voter registration push, the event says on social media.
To mark the event, the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance is holding a voter registration drive at the Richard Kemp Center in Burlington’s Old North End Tuesday. It is one of hundreds of drives across the country on National Voter Registration Day.
"We cannot understate how important it is to vote," said Mark Hughes of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance.
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Hughes said Election Day 2022 is not going to be one to sit out — not with hot races for legislative seats, statewide and federal offices, and a rare pair of proposed amendments to the Vermont Constitution.
As NECN reported in June, one of those proposed amendments, known as Prop 2, would eliminate old language that allowed for slavery in certain circumstances, like for payment of debts.
"This is the opportunity for us to make change," Vincent Mitchell of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance said of the vote on Prop 2. "This is the shift — the paradigm shift — that we need to make as a people and as a whole, as a community."
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Williston town clerk Sarah Mason said the promotional push that comes from National Voter Registration Day is a very good thing, but emphasized she and her fellow clerks around Vermont want to make it easy to register any day.
"Your vote is your voice," Mason said. "If you’d like things to change, or you want to see a difference, then you do need to participate. Registering to vote and then getting out to vote is the way to do it."
Voters can also sign up online in Vermont through this official state website, and even on Election Day itself at their polling place.
Mason noted that 17-year-olds can register to vote in Vermont if they’ll have turned 18 by Election Day.
Secretary of State Jim Condos, D-Vermont, encouraged participation in National Voter Registration Day, which is held each September.
"When you register to vote and cast your ballot, you are strengthening our democracy just by participating," Condos wrote in a statement issued Monday.
Condos went on to say improving access to voting has been a prime goal of his office.
"While across the country new voter restrictions are making it harder to register and vote in some states, in Vermont we have worked to make it easier for eligible voters to get registered, and we have given voters more options for how to make their voice heard in our elections," Condos wrote. "National Voter Registration Day is an opportunity for us to try and further reach those eligible Vermonters who are not yet registered."
More information on National Voter Registration Day is available online.
The Vermont Racial Justice Alliance’s voter registration day will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Richard Kemp Center at 372 North Winooski Avenue in Burlington.
"Maybe you’ve just moved here recently, and of course, if you’ve never voted before — especially if you’ve never voted before — please register to vote," Hughes said, encouraging attendance at Tuesday’s drive or online voter registration.
The Secretary of State’s office has more information on voter registration on its website, as well as this list of frequently asked questions.
