Voting, whether it's for the first time or the fiftieth, can seem daunting, so we have broken it down into three easy steps for you: register, research, and react! Click on the dropdown on the main tab to learn more about the three steps individually.
Register - Check out our step by step guide page for voter registration! From choosing your political party to knowing when deadlines are for getting registered and voting, check out this guide for help on starting your voting process.
Research - Check out our step by step guide page for tips on pre-voting research! From reflecting on your personal values and how they align with political issues to seeking out objective information and empathizing with others, check out this guide for help on how to be a more informed voter!
React - You are all prepped and ready to go, now you just need to figure out how and why to vote! Check out the React page for this information.
Voting for the first time can be intimidating! Browse these resources to become more comfortable with voting.
The Capacity for Civic Engagement by 
Before registering to vote you will want to identify which state you are voting in, look up the requirements, and consider if you would like to register with a political party.
When it comes time to register to vote, you'll be asked to choose register with the political party of your choosing. Check out these great resources to help determine what political party your values align most closely with!
Once you've determined the political party that aligns most closely with your values and beliefs, it will be time to get registered! Voting registration requirements vary from state to state, so check out How to Vote using TurboVote at UNLV for more info!
The basic requirements for getting registered to vote in Nevada are simple. To start, you must be a United States citizen and at least 18 years old by election day, but you are able to pre-register at 17 years old! In order to be registered and vote in Nevada, you must have been living here for at least 30 days prior to registering. Luckily, you can register to vote any time, including election day, once you have established residency. Lastly, in order to prove your state residency, you'll need to have a Nevada ID card, so make sure you have yours!
To recap, you must be:
To register, sign up through TurboVote at UNLV. They make the process super easy and you can even sign up for election reminders!
Photo by Manny Becerra via Unsplash
When doing political research for the purpose of voting you will want to reflect on where your beliefs fit in within political discourse, seek information to learn more, and empathize with others who may have different lived experiences from you that will be impacted by your vote.
The first step when preparing to research is to reflect on your viewpoints and biases. Reflecting on what you find to be most important will allow you to better determine where you fall on the political spectrum. The topics below are all great places to start when reflecting.
Below are a few websites that you can visit to see which political parties your values align most closely with.
After reflecting on your values and using them to take the political typography assessments, you will be able to better understand which political candidates and issues to vote for based on what is important to you.
After reflecting to understand where you fall on the political spectrum, the next step is to seek out information that allows you to make informed decisions. Below is a list of websites that you can check out to stay up to date on the validity of the information that you are presented within the media.
For more information on resources for seeking political information visit the Researching Issues & Candidates page.
In addition to reflecting on your values and seeking out credible information, it is also important to empathy in the sense that these political issues will impact real people. Take your time researching issues and understanding their potential impact.
Some perspectives need to be sought out more than others as perspectives of dominant communities are shared more frequently and given more weight. When this is the case, we should be thinking about whose perspective we don't have access to as frequently. For example, if you are straight and there is legislation on the table that affects the LGBTQIA+ community, it is important to seek out those perspectives on that legislation. Additionally, if you are a member of a marginalized community, it is important to ensure that you are practicing self-care when seeking other perspectives as you may run into harmful language about your communities.
This practice is particularly important for individuals who belong to dominant communities. If during your reflection you realize that you spend most of your time interacting with perspectives that validate your own, make significant efforts to reach out to people in other communities in order to learn about their perspectives. This can look like
Empathizing is something everyone must incorporate into their research structure for politics. As the votes, we cast impact everyone in our country so we want to make sure we are considering all of those perspectives.
The three main parts of reacting and preparing to vote are understanding where and how to vote, knowing and feeling confident in your rights as a voter, and learning more about the different election season and how to get up to date information on when to vote.
U.S. Vote Foundation - The U.S. Vote Foundation website has helpful information for each state like
Vote.org - Vote.org is a website with tons of great resources. Use this link to find your polling place in any state.
Below is a list of a few your rights as a voter in the United States. Always remember that it is your right as a citizen to cast your ballot on election day.
ACLU.Org - The ALCU also has more information about your rights as a voter. Check out this link to feel more prepared on election day.
Your political activism doesn't need to stop after you're done voting. Below are some different ways that you can stay involved in your community and make a difference.