Your guide to the midterm elections

The midterm election is right around the corner—Tuesday, November 6th to be exact. Meh, you say? Well, elections are decided by those who show up! So if you want to have your say, we’ve got your back and a lot of resources to help you exercise your rights.

What’s at stake?

A lot when it comes to access to birth control. Find out where your candidates stand on the issues. For example:

• Do they support public funding for birth control so women with lower incomes have access to the full range of methods?
• Do they support the requirement that insurance companies cover the full range of birth control methods without co-pays (which the Affordable Care Act currently requires)?
• Speaking of the Affordable Care Act, are they against getting rid of or weakening the law, such as by ending the requirement to cover people who have preexisting conditions?

Where do your candidates stand?

These are just a few questions you may want to ask of your candidates to learn how supportive they are of policies that ensure everyone has the power to decide if, when, and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child.

So learn about the candidates that will be on your ballot and where they stand on the issues. You can find out what U.S. House district you’re in here and then look up the candidates running for that seat and check out their campaign websites here. To see if there’s a Senate race in your state and who’s running go here, and for governor’s races here.

Will you be able to vote when the day comes?

Take these steps to make sure you will be:

• Find out if you are already registered to vote at your current address.

• If you aren’t registered, do it now in less than two minutes.

• Find out how to vote if you’re going to be away from home on November 6. If you are already registered to vote, you can apply for an absentee ballot here. Note, each state has their own requirements on what circumstances qualify someone to vote absentee.

• Find out if your state requires voter identification at the polls.

• Find out if your state has early voting (voting in person before November 6th).

• Find your polling location.

• Make a plan to vote. If you’re planning to vote on election day, think about your schedule on November 6th. Will you vote in the morning? After class? In the evening? Do you need a ride to the polls? Make sure you know when and how you’ll get to your polling location so you can make your voice heard!

What if you’re turned away or have trouble voting when you get to the polls?

Go here or call the Election Protection Hotline: (866) OUR-VOTE – (866) 687-8683.