If You Want To Vote On Nov. 3—You Have Until Monday To Register

Florida’s deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election is just around the corner.

Prospective voters must register by Oct. 5 to cast their vote for president, U.S. house representatives, county mayor, school board members, county commissioners, and more.

To be eligible to register in Florida, you must meet the following requirements:

• Be a U.S. citizen.
• Be a Florida resident.
• Be at least 18 years old.

Prospective voters must have a Florida driver’s license or a Florida identification card when registering to vote. All information on the ID—including name, address, and signature—must match the information provided on your registration card.

“These [upcoming] elections are incredibly important,” said Briyana Joseph, program coordinator for the civic engagement organization Engage Miami. “It is important we vote in this election because Gen Z and Millennials make up 1 in 3 of all voters in Miami-Dade County. We need to use our voice to see who will win these seats.” 

There are two ways to register to vote in Florida—online or using a paper form. Miami Dade College facilitates both of them. 

Paper registration forms can be found at the College’s iCED offices. They can be mailed or dropped off at your election department office once completed. You can also register online using the College’s website. The page also allows students to check their voting status and where their polling site is, and features a sample voting ballot. 

According to MDC’s Student Election Guide, 89% of eligible MDC students registered to vote in 2016, and 72% of those voted in the 2016 elections. That is a high turnout rate compared to Miami-Dade County, where only 43% of eligible 18 to 34-year-olds voted in 2016. 

“At Miami Dade [College], we are working with clubs, doing webinars that get people election ready, working with faculty on figuring out how to plan civic engagement into their teaching, and we talk to students about why it is important to vote and all of that good stuff,” Joseph said. 

The College also has two early voting sites that can be used between Oct. 19 and Nov. 1. from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. At Kendall Campus, 11011 SW 104th St., students can vote at the Fascell Conference Center in building K and the North Campus, 11380 N.W. 27th Ave., site is at the Mitchell Wolfson Center in the 2000 building.

For National Voter Education Week, which runs from Oct. 5 through Oct. 9th, iCED is hosting eight virtual events to help educate voters.

The week starts with the Be Election Ready! webinar on Oct. 5  from 4 to 5 p.m. and closes on Oct. 9 with a screening of The Vote from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Friday. Here is a link to all the events: https://sharknet.mdc.edu/organization/iced/events