Submitted by the Washington State Office of Secretary of State
Secretary of State Kim Wyman has organized a series of events to help the public learn about and participate in National Voter Registration Day this Tuesday, Sept. 25.
Beginning at 8 a.m. PDT, Secretary Wyman will join Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon for a Reddit.com Ask Me Anything live online discussion about the importance of registering to vote. Participants can visit the secretary’s website, sos.wa.gov, after 7:30 a.m. to join the Reddit AMA.
Also Tuesday, Wyman will speak to a government class at Highline College in Des Moines and participate in a Mount Tahoma High School assembly and voter registration drive in Tacoma, where she will take part in PLU Rocks the Vote festivities at Pacific Lutheran University that evening.
“Registering to vote is an essential step in the civic life of all Washingtonians,” said Wyman, whose office oversees elections in Washington. “National Voter Registration Day is a perfect time for every eligible American to begin participating in the process. You can’t make your voice heard on decisions that affect you and your loved ones without being a registered voter.”
Just two weeks remain until the Oct. 8 deadline for convenient online or mail-in registration to vote in the Nov. 6 General Election. Wyman said she hopes promoting National Voter Registration Day will lead more eligible Washingtonians to join voter rolls via MyVote.wa.gov or by completing and mailing in a registration form, which can be downloaded from the Secretary of State’s website. Voters also have until Oct. 29 to register in person at county elections offices.
Wyman said she is focused on teaching high school and college students the significance of becoming a voter. In August, Wyman helped launch the Governor’s Student Voter Registration Challenge in hopes that the spirit of competition between Washington colleges would help boost registration among the state’s young adults.
“The earlier in life young people learn and believe that voting is important, the more likely they’ll become lifelong voters,” Wyman said.
Washington’s Office of Secretary of State oversees a number of areas within state government, including managing state elections, registering corporations and charities, and governing the use of the state flag and state seal. The office also manages the State Archives and the State Library, documents extraordinary stories in Washington’s history through Legacy Washington, oversees the Combined Fund Drive for charitable giving by state employees and administers the state’s Address Confidentiality Program to help protect survivors of crime.
