Voter Registration Tools
To register to vote in North Carolina, you can register online through the Division of Motor Vehicles or register by mail by downloading a form at the North Carolina State Board of Elections and mailing a completed form to the county board of elections. You may also register in-person at your county board of elections office.
Tar Heels looking to register to vote in other states should access the national voter registration form.
Am I eligible to vote?
If you would like to vote in North Carolina, you can check your eligibility at the North Carolina State Board of Elections’ website.
Am I already registered?
To check your voter registration status, sample ballot, party affiliation, Election Day polling place, election districts, voter history (elections you have participated in), and absentee ballot information, you can use the NCSBE Voter Search tool.
Can I register with an on-campus address?
In North Carolina, a college student may register and vote in the county where they go to college as long as they are physically present in the college community and do not intend to return to their home community after graduation. For more information, please visit the NC State Board of Elections’ website on registering as a college student. If you would like to register at an on-campus address such as a residence hall, Rams Village Apartments, or Baity Hill Apartments, you can verify your on-campus address at Carolina Housing’s website.
Do I need an ID to vote?
North Carolina’s voter identification requirement is currently not in effect due to legal action. Please check the State Board of Elections website for the most current information on voter identification requirements. Most University issued One Cards are valid voter identification, should it be required.
Help Me Vote
Voting Location Information and Sample Ballots
If you plan to vote in North Carolina, you can verify your polling place and view a sample ballot using the NCSBE Voter Lookup tool. On Election Day, students living in residence halls and Granville Towers will vote at the UNC Stone Center at 150 South Road in Chapel Hill.
Vote in person on Election Day:
You can vote in person on Election Day. To use this option you must have registered to vote before the voter registration deadline and you must go to your assigned polling place.
The Voter Lookup Tool will help you identify your assigned polling place. As previously noted, for students living on campus in UNC housing, the Stone Center is your Election Day polling place.
Vote early:
You can vote early at any early voting site in the county that you reside in. If you live in Orange County, North Carolina, reference the Orange County early voting schedule.
You may also register and vote at the same time during the early voting period. To do so you will need some form of government ID and proof of your residence address. This can be a lease or a utility bill.
The Chapel of the Cross, located at 304 E. Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, is the early voting site located most near campus and downtown Chapel Hill.
Absentee ballot & vote by mail:
You can request an absentee ballot and vote by mail. There will be a deadline to request an absentee ballot, but if you wish to vote by mail you should request your ballot far in advance of this deadline to avoid being affected by postal delays.
You must sign the envelope containing your absentee ballot and you must have one person witness you completing and signing the ballot. You may then either mail the ballot back to the board of elections or drop it off at your county board of elections.
Additional Nonpartisan Election Resources
- The Daily Tar Heel Election Center: The Daily Tar Heel’s section on the elections.
- U.S. Election Assistance Commission: Voter resources & helpful links from the Election Assistance Commission, an independent agency of the United States government established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
- Healthy Elections Project: The Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project was developed to ensure that the 2020 election could proceed with integrity, safety, and equal access.
- TurboVote: TurboVote is an online service to help students vote in every election—local, state, and national—and is developed by Democracy Works.