You can request a voter registration form from the California Secretary of State by calling toll-free (800) 345-VOTE; download the form online; or you can register online.

To download a registration form:
English version (Click button on site for Spanish version)
Other language choices


Be Sure to Vote
After you register, be sure to exercise your voting rights. To vote in an election in California, your registration form must be completed, signed and postmarked at least 15 days before election day.

The general election (for U.S. president and state initiatives) is Nov. 6, 2012. The last day to register is Monday, Oct. 22. (Read Gov. Jerry Brown's message to students: Register and vote.) Californians who are eligible to vote and have a driver's license or state ID card can register or update their voter registration at the Secretary of State's online voter registration page.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. For more information and for answers to your questions on voting, visit the California Secretary of State's website.

To find the polling place where you live or to request a vote-by-mail ballot, contact your county election office. The Secretary of State's website has an interactive county map and directory of these offices.

Voting by mail is the same as voting by absentee ballot. Rather than going to the polls to cast a ballot on election day, you may request an absentee ballot, which you will fill out and return to your elections official. You don't need a reason to vote by mail. Any registered voter may apply for an absentee ballot. More information on voting by mail.

Federal Law
Federal law requires that higher education institutions "make a good faith effort to distribute a mail voter registration form, requested, and received from the State, to each student enrolled in a degree or certificate program and physically in attendance at the institution, and to make such forms widely available to students at the institution."