Reminder: Voter registration deadline is Tuesday, Oct. 11
Voters have until Tuesday, Oct. 11, to register for the upcoming elections.
With state and local elections coming up in the state of Texas on Nov. 8, voters who want to participate in the upcoming elections have until this Tuesday to register to vote. This election includes local races such as the U.S. Representative for District 13 and state Representative for District 87, as well as statewide races including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, land commissioner and agriculture commissioner.
For those who are unsure if they are registered to vote or not, they can go to https://teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov/MVP/mvp.do.
Information needed to find out if one is registered to vote include:
Voter Unique Identifier, or VUID, and date of birth,
Texas Driver’s License number and date of birth, or
Full name, county, date of birth and zip code.
For those not registered to vote, you can go to the Texas secretary of state’s website online at https://vrapp.sos.state.tx.us/index.asp to receive a voter registration application. Voters can also pick up an application at a library, some post offices, some government buildings, high schools or the county voter registrar’s office. However, all applications must be postmarked no later than Oct .1.
Within 30 days of registering, a voter registration certificate will be sent to the individual who signed up to vote.
The Amarillo League of Women Voters will assist individuals who still need to register at two more events before the registration deadline:
Sunday, Oct. 9, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in front of Power Church at 1344 SE 10th, catching folks between services and anybody in the neighborhood who just needs to get registered.
Tuesday, Oct. 11, all day in front of (or the lobby of) all three election offices: Santa Fe Building, 9th and Polk; Randall Co. Annex, 4320 S. Western; and Randall Co. Elections office, 1604 5th in Canyon. This is designed to take a load off the elections workers, who are so busy with other stuff right now.
Sonya Letson, president of the Amarillo League of Women Voters, spoke about her organization's mission to register voters and inform the public about voting.
“Texas has no online voter registration, and you cannot vote unless you are registered,” Letson said. “This means that you will have to find a way to fill out a voter registration before the deadline on Oct.11. At these locations, we will be there to help people get registered.”
While no documentation is needed to register, Letson said that people would be asked to put their Texas Driver's License Number, identification card number or the last four digits of their Social Security number on the application as a self-identifying number for the application.
Letson said that the state of Texas changed its voting rules last year so one of these numbers must be included on the application. She also said that once registered, both Potter and Randall County have vote centers that voters can go to cast their ballot regardless of the precinct.
The one major change for this year’s election, according to Letson, is the identifying numbers that must be included on mail-in ballots, which is located under the flap of the envelope. According to Letson, more than 25,000 ballots were rejected in the last election for this issue. She said always to make sure that your phone number or email address is included on the form in case there is an issue with the vote cast. That way, election officials can contact voters to fix their missing or invalid information.
Only certain people are eligible to vote by mail. To vote by mail, you must meet one of the following qualifications:
are 65 years or older on Election Day
are sick or disabled
expect to give birth within three weeks before or after Election Day
will be absent from the county you’re registered in during early voting and on Election Day
are in jail but otherwise eligible to vote.
According to Texas Election Code, an appropriate sickness or disability is defined as one that “prevents the voter from appearing at the polling place on election day without a likelihood of needing personal assistance or of injuring the voter's health.” It’s up to voters to decide if their sickness or disability warrants voting by mail.
If voters are eligible to vote by mail, they can go to https://webservices.sos.state.tx.us/forms/5-15f.pdf to download the application or request one be mailed at https://bbm.sos.state.tx.us/bbm.asp. The final day to apply to vote by mail is Oct. 28. All mail-in ballots must be postmarked by poll closing times on Nov. 8.
On your application to vote by mail, you must include an ID number, either your Texas Driver’s License number, your Personal ID number or the last four digits of your Social Security Number. The law requires that one of the numbers must match a number on your voter registration record.
Asked what her organization’s priorities are outside of getting people registered at this time, Letson said: “The League advocates for everything that will make it easier for eligible voters to be eligible to be able to vote. We strongly support the ability for voters to register to vote online, but at this point the state of Texas does not allow it. Everyone should have the ability to vote online; we do everything else in our lives online, we should be able to register to vote online as well."
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Reminder: Voter registration deadline is Oct. 11 for Nov. 8 election
