The Fight for the Right to Vote + How to Check Your Voting Status
This October, we at the Gretna Public Library are honored to host Dr. Dianne Bystrom for her presentation “Fight for the Right to Vote: It Still Matters.”
Dr. Bystrom is director emerita of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University. She directed the center for 22 years before retiring in August 2018. At Iowa State, she taught courses on women and politics, political campaigns, and women and leadership.
Currently, Dr. Bystrom serves as director of communications for the League of Women Voters of Nebraska. She is the co-author of Gender and Politics: Changing the Face of Civic Life, published this July, and is generously donating a copy to the library for check-out.
Her presentation describes how voting rights in the United States have expanded and contracted over time through:
- the 15th amendment, which expanded voting rights to African American men;
- the 19th amendment, which expanded voting rights to women;
- the 26th amendment, which expanded rights to 18-20 year-olds;
- the Voting Rights Act of 1965;
- and recent actions by the U.S. Supreme Court, Congress and state legislatures.
Her presentation also includes statistics on who has voted in recent elections by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. She will cover how to be a registered and informed voter (see below to check your voter status), as well as how to apply to vote early.
Dr. Bystrom will be at the library on Saturday, October 19th at 1:30pm. This presentation is made possible by Humanities Nebraska, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and the Three Rivers Library System as part of the HN Speakers Bureau. A press release is attached below.
Check Your Voting Status
To check your voting status, visit the Nebraska Voter Information Lookup. The website will prompt you for your first and last name, as well as your county of residence. You can also use this tool to check your polling location.
You must be 18 years of age to vote. If you will be 18 before the 1st Tuesday following the 1st Monday in November (November 5th this year), you are eligible to register to vote in the upcoming general election. Directions for registration are available on the Secretary of State’s website.
Register to Vote Early
All voters are eligible to vote early in Nebraska. Once you have confirmed that you are registered, print and fill out an early voting application. This application can then be scanned and emailed, faxed, or mailed to your county election office.
The last day for an application to be received by the offices is 6pm on the second Friday preceding the election. For the upcoming general election, that is 10/18/24 (10/25/24 if you visit your county office in-person).
