Washington residents who haven't registered to vote but want to cast a ballot in this year's election have until Oct. 31 to get 'er done.

But it's not as easy as most of the year. You'll have to make a little trip.

Between now and next Monday, U.S. citizens who live in Washington can go to their county elections office and sign up in person by filling out the standard registration form. In Spokane County, that's at 1033 W. Gardner. For the rest of the state, click here for a map that will tell you where to go.

Note: You cannot sign up online for the Nov. 8 election, even though some national voter registration sites sometimes suggest that you can. If you sign up online  now, you can't vote in this election. You'll just be registered for elections in 2017.

To be eligible to vote, you'll have to be at least 18 by Nov. 8, and a U.S. citizen. You can't be a felon under the supervision of the Department of Corrections, or have had your right to vote taken away from you by a court. You need to have been a resident of Washington since at least Oct. 9.

Bring some identification with you to the elections office. The most common is a Washington state driver's license or a state ID card. If you don't have either of those, the form will ask for the last four digits of your Social Security number.

In Idaho, you can register to vote on Election Day at your local poll site. But in Washington, registration closes on Oct. 31, so you might want consider going down sometime this week, to avoid the Halloween rush.

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