Check Your Registration

This feature provides a quick and simple way for you to help voters ensure they’re registered to vote in just a minute or two. This standalone tool will help users confirm they are registered to vote at their current address.

Entry Points

Users can access the Check Your Registration (CYR) tool via three entry points: 

  • By visiting your TurboVote home page and clicking the Check Your Registration button

  • Through your customizable, dedicated CYR landing page:  [yourURL].turbovote.org/check-your-registration

  • Through your customizable CYR form: [yourURL].turbovote.org/check-your-registration/voter-info

Each of these entry points is customizable. Navigate to our Landing Pages Customizations Form to see the available customizations and submit a request.

Voter Information Form

Once a user clicks “Check Your Registration” at either the home or CYR landing pages, users are taken to a form where they are asked to enter their:

  • First and last name used to register to vote

  • Date of birth

  • Street address (no PO Boxes), which we help users complete with address auto-population support

Implementation Tip: Encourage community members to check their registration in the weeks before the election! Voters move often, so this tool can be particularly helpful to ensure they’re registered at their current address and are ready to cast their ballots.

Registration Status Pages

Next, TurboVote checks if the user is registered to vote by searching the TargetSmart Voter Registration Service database of registered voters.

Users who may not be registered to vote

If TurboVote couldn’t find a voter record matching the information provided by the user, we show them a page explaining why they may not be registered to vote and links to 

  • Get help registering to vote from TurboVote (using all of the information the user has already provided the tool)

  • Check their registration status directly on the state’s election website

  • Check their registration status again using new name and/or address information

 
 

Users who are registered to vote

If a user is registered to vote, we also check to see if their state considers their registration status active or inactive. 

Most states share a voter’s registration status (active or inactive) with the TargetSmart Voter Registration Service that powers our tool. Depending on data availability, voters will be shown one of three pages:

  • Active Registration Status

  • Inactive Registration Status

  • Registration Status Unavailable

Active Registration Status: If a voter’s registration status is active, we show users a straightforward “You’re registered to vote” page that notes “Status: Active,” and offers tools to double check status with their state and to make plans to vote.

Inactive Registration Status: If a voter’s registration status is inactive, we explain that, “You’re registered to vote but your registration status is inactive,” noting that they may have to take extra steps before they can vote (or be required to cast a provisional ballot) depending on their state. We encourage the voter to re-register to vote to reactivate their status in addition to offering tools to double check status with their state and to make plans to vote.

Registration Status Unavailable: If registration status is unavailable, we show users a straightforward page that clearly notes “You’re registered to vote” and offers tools to double check status with their state and to make plans to vote.

Please note: If a user's registration is inactive, they may have to take extra steps before they can vote. If they do not take these steps, they may have to cast a provisional ballot.

How TurboVote Determines Registration Status Results

The TargetSmart Voter Registration Service is a national database of registered voters that receives voter registration records from states​​ frequently throughout the year (though exact cadence varies from state-to-state). 

We’ve tailored our Check Your Registration tool to provide accurate guidance based on both:

  1. the information a user provides to TurboVote and 

  2. how recently the registration data was updated with TargetSmart for the state in which they’re checking their status.

Our status result pages note exactly when a voter’s state last updated their data, but we go further in our explanation of each user’s result and tune accompanying advice for next steps they should take based on how close it is to an election. The closer to an election, the more likely that folks have registered to vote before states have updated voter records with TargetSmart, so we’re more pointed in advising voters to double-check their status directly with states. 

Creating a Check Your Registration Referral Link

To track user traffic to your dedicated CYR page or form, it may help to create referral links. At this time, Check Your Registration referral links need to be created manually (not with the Referral Code Generator in the Admin Console).

There are three components to a TurboVote referral link: [Your Custom Check Your Registration URL] + ?r= + Unique Identifier 

  • Step 1: Make sure you are using your custom TurboVote URL: [yourURL].turbovote.org/check-your-registration

  • Step 2: Add ?r= immediately following the URL.

  • Step 3: Add a unique identifier immediately following ?r=. The identifier should be short but descriptive to help you keep track of the tactic the link is associated with. Use only letters, numbers, and dashes in identifiers. Do not use spaces. We also recommend you keep a running list of the unique identifiers you have used for future reference.

Examples:


For English-speaking users:

  • Main landing page: [yourURL].turbovote.org?r=test

  • Check Your Registration landing page: [yourURL].turbovote.org/check-your-registration?r=test

  • CYR form: [yourURL].turbovote.org/check-your-registration/voter-info?r=test






For Spanish-speaking users:

  • Main landing page: [yourURL].turbovote.org?r=test&lang=es

  • Check Your Registration landing page: [yourURL].turbovote.org/check-your-registration?r=test&lang=es

  • CYR form: [yourURL].turbovote.org/check-your-registration/voter-info?r=test&lang=es

Step 4: Simply use the full URL with the referral code in the Tweet, email, website banner, or other promotion tactic you want to associate it with!

Once created, signup numbers associated with each Referral Link are available in the Dashboard.

Referral link information is also captured for the User Export, so you can see at the individual level how users are arriving at this page.

Sample Calls-to-Action

  • Moved recently and not sure if you’re registered to vote at your new address? Take a minute to check today: [yourURL].turbovote.org/check-your-registration?r=test

  • Election season is upon us–are you registered to vote? Check quickly and easily at [yourURL].turbovote.org/check-your-registration/voter-info?r=test

We’ve created lots of other content that you’re welcome to use when sharing the CYR tool. Explore other useful communications templates and tips for online and in-person campaigns in the toolkit.


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Page last updated on: 10/27/2022