Politics & Government

Get Your Vote On

Do you have what it takes to vote in the primary? Find out.

Time to exercise your civic duty—tomorrow is primary day. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 14.

Georgetown has two polling places:

  • Christ Church
  • Duke Ellington School

Registering

Find out what's happening in Georgetownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

To register at this point,  the day before the primary, you will have to go to the Board of Elections office at 441 4th St. or one of the early voting satellite locations. The closest satellite location to Georgetown is Chevy Chase Community Center at 5601 Connecticut Ave.
Other locations include: Hine Jr. HS at 335 8th St., SE near the Eastern Market metro, Southeast Tennis and Learning Center at 701 Mississippi Ave., SE and Turkey Thicket Recreation Center at 1100 Michigan Ave., NE nearest the Brookland/CUA metro.

To register you must be a U.S. citizen, who will be 18 years old by Nov. 2 (the date of the general election). You must have lived in D.C. for at least 30 consecutive days immediately before the primary and cannot claim voting residence outside of D.C. You cannot vote if you are a prisoners currently serving jail time for a felony conviction and/or if you have been found legally incompetent to vote by a court.

Find out what's happening in Georgetownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

To verify residency, you might be asked to present: a valid photo ID, current utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck, or any other government document that shows your name and address (think W-2).
So as long as your are not some MD interloper, do not spend your days in jail and are mentally competent (or at least don't have a court order saying otherwise), you should be able to register without a problem. Fingers crossed.


Voting

D.C. requires primary voters to be registered with a political party, which in the District are Democratic, Republican and D.C. Statehood Green Party. Though you can still register at a satellite location, you cannot vote early there and will have to go to the Board of Elections office. If you need to register and want to vote early, the 441 4th St. office is your place. Early voting ends at 4:45 p.m. Sept. 13.
Voting on primary day begins at 7 a.m. and ends at 8 p.m. with the caveat that if you are in line by 8 p.m., then you can still vote, no matter how long you are in line. 

Voters on primary day can vote at the designated polling location in their neighborhood. For those voters unable to vote at the neighborhood location, voting is allowed at any polling place in D.C., though votes  will have to cast on a special ballot with an explanation.

Not sure where your designated polling location is? Check this site: http://www.dcboee.org/voter_info/find_pollingplace/

Note from the editor: This was my first election voting as a D.C. resident. I gave up my coveted PA registration last year when I became the co-owner of a condo with my husband. I voted early on Sept. 10 so I can be out at your polling places, taking photos and getting your thoughts on the election. I was impressed by the ease with which I was processed and by the user-friendly voting machines; from an election nerd, that's saying something. I hope to see lots of "I voted" stickers on passersby; your vote counts!


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