Get registered. Get ready.
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Election Day is Nov. 5. Be ready for the ballot box by registering to vote.
For information on registration deadlines in your state or territory, click here.
To register to vote online, or update your registration, click here.
29 days.
America's great, and perhaps final, moment of decision is just 29 days away, and if you haven't registered to vote – or, if you haven't followed up with election authorities to ensure that you're registered to vote – the time to do so is now.
By now, the characterization might seem almost cliché: Nov. 5 represents the most consequential election in US history.
But this is, in fact, the case.
The choice before us on Election Day is about far more than Donald Trump vs. Kamala Harris; ultimately, it's about Good vs. Evil.
It's about what worldview, what system of belief, we want to frame and to guide American society. Do we want to be a constitutional republic governed according to Christian principles? Or a people's republic ruled by Communist diktats?
Over the past few years, even many non-Christians of goodwill have awakened to the fact that our society is unraveling; they understand the urgency of our times – that our nation is threatened by a new, virulent form of despotism, the likes of which has not been seen in the United States before.
On Saturday, for example, at the 60,000-strong Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, tech titan Elon Musk – who describes himself as a moderate Democrat – warned Americans that Harris-Walz and their fellow Communist-Democrats present an existential threat to US liberty:
"This is no ordinary election. The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech. They want to take away your right to bear arms. They want to take away your right to vote effectively. President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America. ... This is a must-win situation – must-win."
Having reminded his audience what is at stake in this election, Musk urged them to make sure they are ready to head to the polls on Nov. 5, and then to actually do so on Election Day:
"Register to vote, OK? And get everyone you know and everyone you don’t know. Drag them to register to vote. ... Text people now. Now. And then make sure they actually do vote. If they don’t, this will be the last election."
Musk's warning was neither hyperbolic nor conspiratorial. Americans must exercise our right to vote on Nov. 5 – a right secured by the blood of millions of our soldiers over the nation's 248-year history.
If we do not, there will be hell to pay – quite soon, and quite literally.
Catholics, in particular – a critical voting demographic – cannot sit on the sidelines on Nov. 5. If we do, we will come to rue the day we failed to defend the United States from its enemies within.
REGISTRATION DEADLINES
As Musk noted so urgently, if you are not registered to vote, or if you know anyone who is not registered to vote, the time to do so is now.
In some states and territories, the registration deadline has passed. These include Alaska (Oct. 6); the Northern Mariana Islands (Sept. 6); Puerto Rico (Sept. 21); Rhode Island (Oct. 6) and the US Virgin Islands (Oct. 6).
In others – including a number of critical battlegrounds – the deadline to register is today, Oct. 7. These include American Samoa; Arizona; Arkansas; Florida; Georgia; Indiana; Kentucky; Louisiana (in person and by mail – postmarked); Mississippi; Montana (by mail – postmarked); Ohio; Tennessee and Texas
For residents of the remaining states and territories, registration deadlines are as follows:
Alabama - Oct. 24
California - Oct. 21
Colorado - Oct. 28
Connecticut - Oct. 18
Delaware - Oct. 12
District of Columbia - Oct. 15
Guam – Oct. 22
Hawaii – Oct. 28 (by mail – postmarked); Nov. 5 (online and in person)
Idaho – Oct. 11 (online, and by mail – postmarked); Nov. 5 (in person)
Illinois – Oct. 8 (by mail – postmarked); Oct. 20 (online); Nov. 5 (in person)
Iowa – Oct. 21 (online and by mail – postmarked); Nov. 5 (in person)
Kansas – Oct. 15
Louisiana – Oct. 15 (online)
Maine – Oct. 15 (online, and by mail – received); Nov. 5 (in person)
Maryland – Oct. 15 (online, and by mail – postmarked); Nov. 5 (in person)
Massachusetts – Oct. 26
Michigan – Oct. 21 (online, and by mail – postmarked); Nov. 5 (in person)
Minnesota – Oct. 15 (online, and by mail – received); Nov. 5 (in person)
Missouri – Oct. 9
Montana – Nov. 5 (in person)
Nebraska – Oct. 18 (online, and by mail – postmarked); Oct. 25 (in person)
Nevada – Oct. 8 (by mail – postmarked); Oct. 23 (online); Nov. 5 (in person)
New Hampshire – Nov. 5
New Jersey – Oct. 15
New Mexico – Oct. 8 (online, and by mail – postmarked); Nov. 5 (in person)
New York – Oct. 26
North Carolina – Oct. 11 (online, and by mail – postmarked); Nov. 2 (in person)
Oklahoma – Oct. 11
Oregon – Oct. 15
Pennsylvania – Oct. 21
South Carolina – Oct. 14
South Dakota – Oct. 21
Utah – Oct. 25 (online and by mail - received); Nov. 5 (in person)
Vermont – Nov. 5
Virginia – Oct. 15 (online, and by mail – postmarked); Nov. 5 (in person)
Washington – Oct. 28 (online, and by mail – received); Nov. 5 (in person)
West Virginia – Oct. 15
Wisconsin – Oct. 16 (online, and by mail – postmarked); Nov. 5 (in person)
Wyoming – Oct. 21 (by mail – received); Nov. 5 (in person)
North Dakota, meanwhile, is unique in that it does not require voters to register; anyone who has lived in the state for 30 days prior to Election Day can vote, but they do need a valid form of identification to do so.
It is also recommended that once you register, you contact your state election office to ensure that your name is on the voter rolls. Owing to the pitfalls of bureaucracy (and worse), it would be unwise to simply check a box and presume your registration has gone through. To guarantee that your voice is heard on Nov. 5, double-check your registration status with a follow-up call.
For more information on registration deadlines or the registration process, click here.
To register to vote online, or update your registration, click here.
A MORAL DUTY
At present, upward of 15 million American Christians are unregistered – and, therefore, ineligible – to vote. This is inexcusable.
Voting is a civic duty. More than that, it is a moral imperative.
Owing to what is at stake for the United States, failing to vote in this election wouldn't be just foolish – it would be sinful.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church confirms that voting is a moral obligation for all Catholics, In paragraphs 2239-2240, it declares:
"It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community.
Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country ...."
"The Church teaches that we have an obligation, in justice, to vote, because the welfare of the community depends upon the persons elected and appointed to office," Catholic Action for Faith and Family, a group focused on defending Christian values, explains.
"As Catholic Christians, we understand that it is a moral duty to vote. It's not an option," online evangelist Fr. Jeffrey Kirby likewise affirms. "We are bound, morally, to vote. In fact, not to vote – to purposely not vote – is actually a sin of omission."
As Catholics, we cannot fail in our civic duty. We cannot retreat from our moral responsibility – to our children, to our neighbors, to our country – on Election Day.
America is burning to the ground. If we fail on Nov. 5 to fight the Communist conflagration, we will soon be consumed by it.
Writer, editor and producer Stephen Wynne has spent the past seven years covering, from a Catholic perspective, the latest developments in the Church, the nation and the world. Prior to his work in journalism, he spent eight years co-authoring “Repairing the Breach,” a book examining the war of worldviews between Christianity and Darwinism. A Show-Me State native, he holds a BA in Creative Writing from Pepperdine University and an Executive MBA from the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.