We are Harold and Bea. Harold carried the mail for 31 years and Bea was a school secretary for 26, and since we retired we have worked every election at our precinct's polling place, which is in the fire station. Twelve years, twenty-some elections, and in all that time the thing that has bothered us most is not who wins. It's how many people don't come. In an off-year election we can sit for an hour without a single voter walking in. Half the time, when we run into a neighbor at the grocery store and ask, it turns out they meant to register and never got around to it, or they moved and thought their registration moved with them (it doesn't), or they were out of town and didn't know they could vote absentee.

So we asked our grandson to show us how to make a home page, and this is it. It is about how to vote, not who to vote for. You will not find a candidate's name or a party's name anywhere on this page, and we intend to keep it that way. If you write to us asking who we like, we will write back and tell you, kindly, that it's none of your business, and then ask whether you're registered.

Everything here is general. Election law is different in every state and sometimes every county, so the last word on any of it is your own county clerk or election board. When we say "check with your county," we mean it.

Who can register. In general: a citizen of the United States, who will be at least 18 years old on Election Day, and who lives in the place where they're registering. Most states also have a rule about felony convictions; if that applies to you, ask your county, because the rules vary a great deal.

How to register. Any of these will do:

• In person at your county clerk's office or county board of elections, usually in the courthouse. Take a driver's license or something with your address on it.
• By mail. Every state that requires registration accepts a mail-in form. You can get one from the county office, and most public libraries and post offices keep a stack. Fill it out, sign it, and mail it. You'll get a card back confirming you're on the rolls, and that card tells you where your polling place is. Keep it.
• At the driver's license office. Under the 1993 "motor voter" law, when you get or renew your license, the clerk must offer to register you to vote. Say yes. It takes an extra minute.
• At some public offices that serve the public, such as social services and disability agencies, which also have to offer the forms.

The deadline. This is the one that gets people. In most states registration closes about 30 days before the election. Some are a little less, a few states let you register right at the polls on Election Day, and one state doesn't require registration at all, but do not count on it. Check with your county, and do it now, while you're thinking about it, not in October of next year.

If you've moved. Your registration does not follow you, not even across the street if that puts you in a different precinct. Re-register at your new address. If you've changed your name, same thing.

Not sure whether you're registered? Call the county clerk. They'll look you up in a minute. It's their job and they are glad to do it.

An absentee ballot is a real ballot that comes to you in the mail. You fill it out at your kitchen table and mail it back. It counts exactly the same as a ballot cast at the polls. Who can get one depends on your state: some states let anyone vote absentee for any reason, others require a reason such as being out of the county that day, illness or disability, being over a certain age, working a long shift, or being in college away from home. Members of the military and citizens living overseas have their own federal form and their own rules.

How it works, in general:

1. Ask for the ballot. Write or call the county clerk and request an absentee ballot application; some counties will take the request by mail or fax. Do this early. Many states set a deadline for applications about a week before the election, and the ballot has to get to you and back.
2. The ballot arrives in the mail, with instructions and a special return envelope.
3. Fill it out exactly as the instructions say. Use the pen or pencil they specify. Don't make stray marks.
4. Sign the envelope. Almost every state requires your signature on the outside envelope, and some require a witness or a notary. An unsigned envelope is the most common reason an absentee ballot gets thrown out. We've seen it happen and it's a shame every time.
5. Mail it back early. Most states require the ballot to be received by Election Day, not postmarked. Give it a week. Some counties also let you bring it to the clerk's office in person.

College students: you can usually register either at your school address or your home address, but not both. If you register at home and can't get there, absentee is the way.

People think of 2000 as "the presidential election," and it is, but the President is one line on a long ballot. On November 7, 2000, depending on where you live, you may be voting for:

• President and Vice President (technically you're choosing your state's electors, who cast the actual votes in December; that's the Electoral College).
• Your member of the U.S. House of Representatives. All 435 seats are up every two years.
• A U.S. Senator, in about two-thirds of the states; roughly a third of the Senate is elected each even year.
• State offices: in many states the governor, and usually your state senator and state representative.
• County and local offices: commissioners, sheriff, clerk, treasurer, coroner, school board, township trustees. These are the people who plow your road and run your schools, and the races are often decided by a handful of votes.
• Judges, either elected outright or on a "shall this judge be retained" question.
• Ballot questions: constitutional amendments, bond issues, school levies, local option questions.

Our best advice: a few weeks before the election, ask your county clerk for a sample ballot. Most counties will mail one or print it in the newspaper. Sit down with it at the kitchen table, look up the names you don't know, and decide in advance. A voter who walks in with a marked-up sample ballot is in and out in three minutes and never has to guess at the school board question. (You can bring your notes into the booth. You just can't leave them there.)

People ask us what we actually do all day. Here is a typical one.

5:30 a.m. We meet the other three workers at the fire station. The county delivered the locked ballot box, the voting booths, the supply kit and the poll book (the big printout of every registered voter in the precinct) the night before. We set up the booths, tape the sample ballots and the instruction posters to the wall, hang the flag out front, and count the blank ballots twice so the number matches the county's sheet. We all take an oath. Bea makes the coffee.

6:30 a.m. Polls open (the hour varies by state). There's usually a line of five or six people on their way to work. Each voter comes to the table, says their name and address, and we find them in the poll book. They sign next to their name, and one of us initials it. That signature is how we know that person voted once and only once. We hand them a ballot, explain how to mark it if they're new, and point them to a booth.

All day. Voters come in waves: before work, at lunch, after school lets out, and a big rush from 5 to 7 p.m. In between we read, do the crossword and eat the sandwiches. A voter who isn't in our book is usually in the wrong precinct; we look up their address on the map and send them to the right place, or call the courthouse to sort it out. A voter who needs help marking the ballot can bring someone, or two of us from different parties will help together. Everybody gets a little "I Voted" sticker. The stickers matter more than you'd think.

7:30 p.m. Polls close. Anyone in line at closing time still gets to vote. Then we seal the ballot box, count the signatures in the poll book against the ballots used, fill out the tally sheets, and sign everything. Then Harold and one other worker, from the other party, drive the sealed box and the paperwork to the courthouse together. They don't let go of it until the clerk signs for it. Home about 10 o'clock, feet up.

Want to do this? Every county needs poll workers, and most of us are over 60, so the county would love to see some younger faces. You must be a registered voter, you take a short training class a few weeks before the election, and the county pays a small stipend for the day (ours is under a hundred dollars, so nobody's doing it for the money). Call your county clerk and ask. It's a long day and we've never regretted one.