Have you ever wondered why this year's election is referred to as midterm?
Here's the answer to that and other election terms voters should know ahead of 2022 Midterm Election Day.
[Ads /]
Midterm election
It's called a midterm election because it is held two years (halfway) into the four-year presidential term in the U.S.
Why Is Election Day a Tuesday in November?
According to history.com, the answer stems from the agrarian makeup of 19th-century America. In the 1800s, most citizens worked as farmers and lived far from their polling place. Since people often traveled at least a day to vote, lawmakers needed to allow a two-day window for Election Day. Weekends were impractical, since most people spent Sundays in church, and Wednesday was market day for farmers. Tuesday was selected as the first and most convenient day of the week to hold elections. And now thanks to early voting in most states, you can cast a ballot on weekends, including Sunday.
What is One-stop early voting?
Early voting gives voters a chance to vote two weeks head of the general Election Day in November. It also gives voters an opportunity to register, if they missed the deadline, and vote at the same time. You can't register on Election Day. You can also cast an absentee ballot during early voting.
Absentee voting
Absentee voting allows you to vote before Election Day by mail or drop box. Although every state has absentee voting, rules on who can take part vary.
Provisional ballot
In North Carolina, a voter receives a provisional ballot when questions arise about: The voter's qualification to vote, the voter's eligibility to vote in a given election, or the voter's eligibility to vote a specific ballot style.
Election officials hold provisional ballots aside as they conduct research about the voter's eligibility. County board of elections officials make final determinations about voter eligibility. Election results are not finalized until all provisional ballots that are eligible are counted.
WATCH |One-stop early voting starts in North Carolina
Voter suppression
The Anti-defamation league defines voter suppression as a means "to end or stop by force." When used, voter suppression impacts the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing specific groups of people from voting. Voter suppression is generally achieved by laws passed that "restrict the right to vote."
Voter Intimidation
[Ads /]
According to the ACLU, Voter intimidation is attempting to interfere with your or anyone's right to vote, it may be voter intimidation and a violation of federal law. Examples of intimidation may include: aggressively questioning voters about their citizenship, criminal record, or other qualifications to vote , in a manner intended to interfere with the voters' rights falsely presenting oneself as an elections official spreading false information about voter requirements, such as an ability to speak English, or the need to present certain types of photo identification (in states with no such requirement) displaying false or misleading signs about voter fraud and the related criminal pen.
Here's how to reporter voter intimidation
The Election Protection Hotline: 1-866-687-8683 or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español)
Your local and state officials, including poll workers; your county clerk, elections commissioner, elections supervisor; or your state board of elections. See NC rules here.
The U.S. Department of Justice Voting Rights Hotline: 800-253-3931; TTY line 877-267-8971
Do you vote at your designated polling place or precinct?
Polling place and precinct both mean the location where you cast your vote. The word poll when used as a noun, also means a sampling/collection of opinions on a topic.
What's a poll monitor and what can they do?
In many states, poll monitors must be trained and certified by a political party or a candidate, and must carry their certification paperwork with them. In most states, poll monitor(s) must be a registered voter in the state or county where they are monitoring the polls, the ACLU says.
Vote Canvass
[Ads /]
Canvass is what board of elections do to affirm ballots after an election.
It's the process of counting and confirming every valid ballot cast and this includes absentee, early voting, Election Day, provisional, challenged, and uniformed and overseas citizen.
What's included in the Voting Rights Act?
This act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. According to US National Archives, by the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new Black voters had been registered, one-third by federal examiners. By the end of 1966, only four out of 13 southern states had fewer than 50 percent of African Americans registered to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was readopted and strengthened in 1970, 1975, and 1982.
What happened to the Voting Rights Act in 2013?
According to the Department of Justice, on June 25, 2013, the United States Supreme Court held that it is unconstitutional to use the coverage formula in Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act to determine which jurisdictions are subject to the preclearance requirement of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Shelby County v. Holder.
Who can and can't vote in US elections?
You CAN vote in U.S. federal, state, and local elections if you:
Are a U.S. citizen (some areas allow non-citizens to vote in local elections only)
Meet your state's residency requirements
You can be homeless and still meet these requirements.
Are 18 years old on or before Election Day (some areas allow 16 year olds to vote in local elections only)
In almost every state, you can register to vote before you turn 18 if you will be 18 by Election Day.
Are registered to vote by your state's voter registration deadline
Who CAN'T vote in US federal, state and local elections?
Non-citizens, including permanent legal residents cannot vote in federal, state, and most local elections.
Some people following felony convictions or who are currently serving time for other types of crimes. Rules are different in each state.
Some people who are mentally incapacitated. Rules vary by state.
For president in the general election: U.S. citizens residing in U.S. territories
What are the election laws in my state?
Federal laws for states are all the same, especially.
However, individual states may have different laws.
Here's a link to election laws in all 50 states
Do states still have a poll tax?
The answer is no. The US Library of Congress said it ended in 1964. On January 23, 1964, the Twenty-fourth Amendment ended the Poll Tax. The amendment prohibits the states or federal government from requiring voters to pay a poll tax before they are able to vote in a national election. The use of the poll tax was revived following the end of Reconstruction as a mechanism to restrict access to voting for underprivileged people in general and African Americans in particular. Though this amendment only applies to national elections, a subsequent 1966 Supreme Court decision in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections overturned an earlier precedent, holding that the use of poll taxes in state elections would violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.