• Official State Website
• Secretary of State Website
• Absentee Voting Rules Webpage

Summary
You are eligible to vote in the state of California if:

• You are a United States citizen
• You are a resident of California
• You are at least 18 years of age (or will be by the date of the next election)
• You are not in prison or on parole for a felony conviction
• You have not been judged by a court to be mentally incompetent

To locate general election polling locations, check the California Secretary of State's website one month prior to the election date. (*Precincts with fewer than 250 voters will be automatically sent vote-by-mail ballots rather than setting up a polling station.)

Any registered voter may sign up to vote-by-mail by writing to their county elections official, completing the vote-by-mail ballot included in their sample ballot or by downloading and completing a vote-by-mail application. Ballots from vote-by-mail voters must be received by the elections official no later than 8 p.m. on election day.

For more information regarding voter registration please call the toll-free hotline 1-800-345-VOTE.

Deadlines

• Deadline to register to vote in November 2008 election: Must be postmarked by October 20, 2008
• Deadline to register for absentee ballot in November 2008 election: No later than October 20, 2008
• Voters can register to vote by mail at any time, but their applications must be at least seven days before the election.

Voting Equipment

Voting systems in California vary by county, steps for the voting process for each county can be found here. A list of approved certified voting systems for California and the companies that create them can be found here (pdf).

Electronic (DRE) voting machines must have an accessible voter-verified paper audit trail to meet California Elections Code standards. Voters casting ballots from electronic machines are urged to review and verify their ballot choices with the paper record before finalizing their vote. Once the vote is cast, the paper ballot is kept inside the voting machine as a way for the election committee to track and verify the accruacy of votes recorded. California law does not provide voters with a printed record of their vote choices.

More from California Election Protection Network and California Voter Foundation.