I thought this might be helpful to new voters who are interested in participating in the 2020 democratic primary. Remember to register to vote if you are not already a registered voter in your state. A few states actually allow you to register and vote in the primary on the same day such as the Iowa caucus, North Dakota is also a unique state that has no voter registration, meaning you can bypass this process and just walk in to vote. In the large majority of states however you have to be registered in advanced in order to vote during the primary. Most states offer registration until the last few weeks before the primary. My own state North Carolina will hold the democratic primary on March 3rd 2020, with registration accepted until February 7th.
You can use the link below Headcount to find out more about the requirements for your state. This is not a 100℅ complete guide, the deadline of a handful of states do not appear. I believe that Minnesota, Montana and New Mexico have not announced the deadline for registration just yet. If you live in one of the aforementioned states and have never voted before I would advise you to contact your local board of elections for more information. The date of the primary itself in Minnesota is March 3rd 2020, and on June 2nd 2020 in both Montana and New Mexico, but you will probably need to be registered beforehand.
https://www.headcount.org/deadlines-dates/?section=pres
While Headcount has not been updated to include registration deadlines for Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada at the moment, I was able to find the deadlines for these states online after a little bit of digging. The 2020 Nevada Caucus is on February 22nd, and the registration deadline is February 2nd. The Ohio primary is on March 17th, and you would need to be registered by February 18th. Wisconsin's primary is on April the 7th, with registration being accepted until March 18th. Last but not least. Pennsylvania's primary is on April 28th, and registration is through March 29th.
If you are only 17 years old, but will be 18 by the time of the general election on Nov 3rd 2020 you may be able to still register to vote and participate in the primary depending on your state regulations. At Fairvote you can find out which states allow 17 year-old primary voting.
https://www.fairvote.org/primary_voting_at_age_17
I hope folks find this info helpful. I think every state is able to still accept registration from new prospective voters, except the state of New York, which has has been a controversial state with regard to voting lately. New Yorkers closed their doors to new applicants back this May when most of us didn't even know who was running! That is over a full year before the primary next June. It is quite ridiculous. If you are already registered to vote in New York though, but not registered to vote as a Democrat however there is still time to change your party affiliation to a democrat now through October 11 if you are a republican or independent voter living in New York who is interested in supporting a democrat this primary season. New York is a closed primary state, meaning you can only vote in the democratic primary if you declare as a democrat.
Some states do not require you to be a democrat to vote in the democratic primary, these are known as open primaries, where voters can potentially identify with any or no party at all, and still request a ballot in the primary of their choosing. To find out whether your state holds open or closed primaries click here.
https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/primary-types.aspx
Also whether you are brand new voter, or voter who is changing party affiliations or a long-time democrat voter it never hurts to make sure the status of your registration is correct and the board of elections has any necessary paperwork.
