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Virginia voters must register by Tuesday

Virginia Beach elections officials are urging people to register and get a witness signature if voting by mail.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The final day to register to vote is Tuesday, October 12 for the November General elections. 

Hundreds of people have gone to the polls to vote early in Virginia Beach. Thousands more have requested ballots by mail this year too.

There are 21-days until election day, Virginia Beach election officials are busy with early voting.

“Our in-person numbers were going to pass 6,000 or hit around 6,000 today [Monday] that have voted in-person," said Virginia Beach General Registrar Donna Patterson.

Patterson said the elections office has had as many as 500 people a day stopping by the office to vote, and thousands of people have requested to vote by mail this year.

“So over 17,000 voters have requested to vote by mail," said Patterson. 

The race for governor in Virginia shows signs of tightening. The latest Wason Center Poll shows former Governor Terry McAuliffe with just a slight lead over the republican Glenn Youngkin.

In a race that close, election officials are reminding everyone voting by mail to make sure they have a witness signature.

“I have voters come in every single day to our office that are putting their witness signatures or maybe they forgot to put their name and address on what we call the B-envelope. The envelope that actually has the voted ballot in there," said Patterson.

Patterson said last year Governor Ralph Northam’s state of emergency did not require a witness signature.

“One thing that we’re required to do, our office is, all of us are required to contact that voter to give them an opportunity to do what we call, Cure the Ballot. So we contact the voter by phone, letting them know their vote by mail ballot is missing some critical information," said Patterson. 

If you haven't registered to vote, the deadline is Tuesday at 5 p.m. at an election office or at 11:59 p.m. to register online.

The Virginia Department of Elections makes it easy to check voter registration status by going to their website

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