Vote in
Virginia
Pick a different stateRegister by October 23
The deadline has passed. Voters may register and vote using a provisional ballot in person after October 23, 2026, through Election Day.
Facts · Read Oct 26Check you are registered. If you are not, do it now.
Go to Virginia registration →Vote early September 18 to October 31
Open now
Today is the last day.
Friday, September 18, 2026 through 5:00 p.m., Saturday, October 31, 2026. Contact your local registrar for early voting and satellite location information.
Pick your day
Early voting is the real date. Same ballot, shorter line, and if something is wrong with your registration you still have days to fix it.
Facts · Read Oct 26Election Day, November 3. Last resort.
Where to vote
Find your polling placeThe state calls this the Polling Place and Ballot Information Lookup. It also shows your early voting options.Read October 26, 2026 from Virginia Department of Elections.
Registered at home but living somewhere else?What Virginia says to do when the address you are registered at is not the address you live at.
We have not confirmed Virginia’s rule for this from an official source yet, so we are not printing one. Check which address you are registered at, then ask that county election office what to do.
All the datesRegistering online, by mail and in person, checking your registration, your polling place, and when polls close in Virginia.
Register by
Friday, October 23, 2026. After that, you can still register in person and vote a provisional ballot through Election Day.
Facts · Read Oct 26Register online
Register or update an existing registration online using the Citizen Portal through Friday, October 23, 2026.
Facts · Read Oct 26Register by mail
The state How to Register page says a mailed application must be postmarked no later than the registration deadline, and applications with no postmark or an illegible postmark are accepted if received no later than 5 days after the deadline.
Facts · Read Oct 26Register in person
On the final day of registration all general registrar offices close at 5:00 p.m. After October 23 you can register in person and vote a provisional ballot through Election Day.
Facts · Read Oct 26Register and vote the same day
Check you are registered
The state calls this the Citizen Portal. View your current registration status there.
Facts · Read Oct 26Early, in person
Friday, September 18, 2026 through 5:00 p.m., Saturday, October 31, 2026. Contact your local registrar for early voting and satellite location information.
Facts · Read Oct 26Weekends
Find your polling place
The state calls this the Polling Place and Ballot Information Lookup. It also shows your early voting options.
Facts · Read Oct 26What to bringThe ID Virginia accepts, and what to do if you do not have one.
ID your state accepts
- Virginia driver's license (current or expired)
- Virginia DMV-issued ID card (current or expired)
- Valid employee ID card, containing a photograph, issued by voter's employer in ordinary course of business
- U.S. Military ID
- Valid student ID issued by a public or private high school or institution of higher education located in Virginia
- Valid student ID, containing a photograph, issued by a public or private institution of higher education located in the U.S.
- Valid U.S. passport or passport card
- Government-issued ID card from a federal, Virginia, or local political subdivision
- Voter ID card issued by the Department of Elections
- Voter confirmation documents
- Valid tribal enrollment or other tribal ID issued by one of the 11 tribes recognized by Virginia
- Nursing home resident ID, if issued by a government facility
- Current utility bill, bank statement, government check, or paycheck containing the name and address of the voter
- Any other current government document containing the name and address of the voter
- Signed ID Confirmation Statement
Voters may provide an acceptable form of ID or sign an ID Confirmation Statement at the polls. On the state’s September 2026 chart, a utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck cannot be more than 12 months old, and a Virginia driver’s license or DMV-issued ID card may be current or expired.
Facts · Read Oct 26If you do not have one
Carry a second document
Checking. Virginia does not publish a second document list for extra scrutiny at the polls; we are confirming there is nothing to print here. Ask your state election office.
Make the plan
Three taps. No account. It stays on this phone.
Roll Call
Lock your date, bring your people, and see how your side is doing.
Who runs your election
The Virginia Department of Elections administers elections in Virginia. Your county or parish election office runs the polling places, counts the ballots, and answers questions about your own ballot. They are the people to call, and the ones whose answer is final.
Statewide offices are the ones every voter in Virginia votes on, and every ballot counts the same from any precinct in the state. District seats are drawn on a map, so where you live decides which of those you vote on.
Some years a ballot also asks voters to change the rules of voting itself. Those questions tend to cover:
- what counts as ID at the polls or with a mail ballot
- how early voting and mail voting work, and by when
- how districts get drawn and who draws them
- how the election office itself is run and funded
We do not tell you what is on your ballot or what to make of it. Your sample ballot carries the official wording, written by the state. Read it at the Virginia Department of Elections.
Mail, honestlyVoting by mail works. It also has rules, and the rules are where ballots get lost.
Your dates are above: when to ask for the ballot, when it has to be back, what happens if a signature is questioned.
- Sign exactly the way you signed when you registered.
- Send it back early, not on the last day.
- Would rather not trust the mail? Check the early in-person window above and go in person.
Ask for your ballot by
Your request must be received by your local registrar by 5:00 p.m., Friday, October 23, 2026.
Facts · Read Oct 26It has to be back by
Return it to your registrar or a drop-off location by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day. If mailed, it must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by noon on the third day following the election.
Facts · Read Oct 26Where to drop it off
The state says to contact your general registrar for ballot drop box information.
Facts · Read Oct 26Track your ballot
The state calls this Ballot Scout. Fairfax and Prince William counties run their own trackers.
Facts · Read Oct 26If your signature is questioned
Checking. We are confirming how Virginia states its ballot cure process on its own page before we print it. Ask your state election office.
The lineIf the line is long, that is not a reason to leave. It is a reason to stay.
Bring water. Bring a charger. Bring a chair if you can carry one, a book, and a friend. Check your bag rules with your county first. If you are in line when the polls close, stay in line: your state decides what happens next, and every state page here prints its own rule in its own words.
- Water
- A charger
- A chair if you can
- Something to read
- A friend
If you are in line when polls close in Virginia
Time off to vote
Checking. We have not found a Virginia Department of Elections page stating a time off to vote law, and we will not print one without the state saying so. Ask your state election office.
Your rightsA provisional ballot, help if you need it, and the number to call from the line.
You can vote a provisional ballot
If your name is not on the list, or you do not have what they ask for, ask for a provisional ballot. In a federal election you have the right to cast one. Ask what you must do afterwards for it to count, and write it down.
You can bring someone to help
You can bring a person of your choice to help you vote, with limits your state sets on who it cannot be. Ask the poll worker for the rule in writing.
Language and disability assistance
Polling places must be accessible, and many places must provide help in other languages. Ask for the accessible machine, the curbside option, or the language help you need.
If someone tries to move you off your vote
Questions about your citizenship, a crowd following you in, someone filming you at the door, a person telling you that you cannot vote: none of that decides your vote. Do not leave the line. Call the hotline from where you stand.
Sources: the Virginia Department of Elections, and the Election Protection coalition for the hotlines below.
Call from the line
If anyone tells you that you cannot vote, or you are turned away, or something feels wrong: do not leave. Call.
- 866-OUR-VOTE866-687-8683 · English
- 888-VE-Y-VOTA888-839-8682 · Spanish and English
- 888-API-VOTE888-274-8683 · Asian languages and English
- 844-YALLA-US844-925-5287 · Arabic and English
Election Protection, administered by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Numbers confirmed against their own site on September 19, 2026.
Your state election office is the final word. We print what its own pages say, with the date we read them.
Read on October 26, 2026 from your state election office, checked by AI against the Virginia Department of Elections pages. Virginia Department of Elections is the final word. See something wrong? Report it.