National Voter Registration Day
Today, September 15th, is National Voter Registration Day, an annual nonpartisan effort encouraging eligible Americans to register to vote, check their registration information, and make sure they’re prepared for upcoming elections.
So here’s our ask: take five minutes today and go to Vote.org.
Register if you haven’t already. Check your voter registration status even if you think everything is fine. Make sure your address and other information are current.
Five minutes now can save you from discovering a problem when you’re ready to vote.
2026 is a Midterm Election Year
This November, voters across the country will participate in races up and down the ballot for federal, state, and local offices.
National elections understandably receive enormous attention, but voting doesn’t begin and end with Washington.
Governors, state legislators, judges, county officials, mayors, school boards, and other elected officials make decisions that can directly affect the communities where we live.
Education. Healthcare. Roads and infrastructure. Housing. Public safety. Taxes. Economic policy. Civil liberties. The environment.
Politics can sometimes feel distant from everyday life, but the decisions made by elected governments eventually show up in everyday life.
That’s why participation matters.
In Texas, More Than 1.2 Million Voters Are Currently on the “Suspense List”
We’re based in Texas, where more than 1.2 million registered voters are currently listed as “suspense” voters.
Despite how the term sounds, being on Texas’ suspense list does not mean your voter registration has been suspended, canceled, or that you have automatically lost your ability to vote.
The list primarily exists to identify registered voters whose current addresses election officials need to confirm. This can happen, for example, when a voter registration certificate, jury summons, or other official mail is returned as undeliverable.
A voter on the suspense list can still vote, although additional steps may be required depending on whether the voter has moved and where they currently live.
That alone is a good reminder that registering once years ago doesn’t mean you should never think about your registration again.
Check it.
Voting Rules Aren’t The Same Everywhere
Registration procedures, deadlines, identification requirements, early voting periods, mail voting rules, and other election procedures vary by state.
For the November 3rd, 2026 election, the Texas voter registration deadline is October 5th. Other states have their own deadlines and procedures.
That’s why National Voter Registration Day is a useful reminder to look up the rules where you live now, rather than waiting until Election Day.
You Don’t Have to Have a Perfect Voting Record to Start Participating
Admittedly, there have been elections throughout my own adult life when I didn’t vote. That may sound surprising because civic participation has been important to me for as long as I can remember.
One of the first things that happened after I turned 18 was my big brother helping me register to vote. He was one of the people who instilled in me the importance of participating, understanding our rights and responsibilities as American citizens, and appreciating the opportunities we have to make our voices heard. A lot of my sense of patriotism grew from that. So did my passion for social justice, equal rights, education, and making sure other people have access to the information and resources they need to participate, too.
By college, I started helping others register to vote through student leadership positions I held. In many ways, advocacy through creativity started even earlier. I’ve been making videos about issues I cared about since I was a kid. More than 20 years ago, I started my first YouTube channel, and over the years I created projects about education, access to public media, and other causes that mattered to me. That same thread continues through my work today.
Through A-Game Creations, I now have the privilege of helping nonprofits, organizations, and individuals doing meaningful public service work tell their stories, educate their communities, and amplify the causes they care about.
But caring deeply about these things has never meant showing up perfectly every single time.
Life gets busy. In fact, my own personal navigation of loss and grief prevented me from creating and posting anything for myself for months.
We work. We take care of families. We meet deadlines. We travel. We get exhausted. We grieve. We deal with things far more immediate than an election that may still feel months away.
Sometimes civic participation falls down the list. That’s human.
What matters is that missing an election in the past doesn’t prevent any of us from participating in the next one.
Every election is another opportunity to learn, pay attention, show up, and use the rights available to us.
Whether you have voted consistently for decades, haven’t voted in a few years, recently became eligible, or will be casting your first ballot in 2026, you can start by doing something incredibly simple today.
Take five minutes:
Register to vote.
Check your registration.
Make sure your information is accurate.
Learn your state’s deadlines.
When voting begins, make a plan to participate.
Democracy works best when we participate. None of us will agree on every candidate, every policy, or every issue, nor should we have to, but we can all make sure we’re prepared to have a voice in the process. Start today at Vote.org.