MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Monday is the last day to register to vote in the upcoming November election in the three state area: Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
To make a final push to get people registered to vote, many groups like “The Equity Alliance,” are holding last minute voter registration events urging people to make their voices heard.
“We got a lot of people registered,” Charlane Oliver, of The Equity Alliance, said. “We texted over 4,000 unregistered voters in Memphis. So, we did a lot of voter contacts. We went on Beale Street to talk to folks and pass out t-shirts, it was a great time.”
Shelby County Election Administrator Linda Phillips said those events were especially helpful this year because they could not have many registration drives due to COVID-19.
Phillips said that did not take away people’s motivation.
“We haven’t done very many voter registration drives, but we’ve seen a huge increase in online registration.”
There are 10,000 pending online voter registrations, but Phillips said they have noticed an overall increase thanks in a large part to social media.
“Over one weekend, we got, I think almost 8,000, and a typical weekend would be 1,000 so Facebook had a lot of power there,” Phillips said.
Phillips said there are things people should be mindful of so their applications will not be rejected.
“The online registration system doesn’t let you skip things, but if they’re printing a form off my website and mailing it today, many people don’t answer the questions at the top of the form, or the bottom of the form and that will delay processing,” Phillips said.
Phillips said a lot of people do not include their social security number, but that is a requirement.
She said there are important steps a person must take to ensure you are able to exercise your right to vote next month.
If you register by mail, it must be postmarked with Monday’s date.
You have until 11:59 to register online by clicking here.