With the voting season right around the corner, our seniors need to know the 5W’s of registration for voting. But before we get to those, lets make sure we know what makes us eligible to vote and if we qualify. If our seniors want to vote in California, then the requirements are the following: they must be a US citizen; must live in California; must be eighteen or older on election day; not be found mentally unable to vote by court and not have any criminal convictions. When all of that is checked off, we can start the process.

The 5W’s are exactly what you learned in elementary school. Who, What, When, Where and Why. Let’s try to answer these as simple as possible. Who are we voting for? That would be the candidates. What are the different elections? The primary (separate for individual states, used to narrow down candidates to two main ones) and the general elections (nationwide voting, used to appoint presidency to the winning candidate). When are the deadlines to register? The deadline to register for primary elections is on May 23, 2016. When is the day to vote for the primary? The General? The day of the vote for primary is June 7, 2016. The day to vote for the general election can fall between November 2 to November 8, 2016. Where do you go to register to vote? You can pick up applications at your local libraries, post office, government offices and DMV’s who will have the paper application. However you can also register online on the Secretary of State’s website. Why should you vote? It’s important to vote for the issues that affect you and to support the candidate whose views for the future of the country is what you agree with.

Here are some tips to our seniors who will be voting this election. Make sure to keep up with current events. Make sure to know not just the candidate names and parties, but also what they support and their views on things. When asked what is most important for seniors to remember, Jeremy Fallquist, Government and Economics teacher, said “Be able to detect bias.” There are many websites and news channels that support one candidate over the other. So make sure to do your research, so that when its time to vote, you can vote for the right candidate.