Registration deadline looms for midterms

Volunteers come out in force to get voters on rolls by Tuesday

Wearing a yellow shirt with the words “deputy voter registrar” emblazoned across the chest, Veronica Nasser greeted people walking to the annual Chicano concert at the Miller Outdoor Theatre.

“Registered to vote?” she asked.

As Texas’ Tuesday voting registration deadline approaches, Nasser and a number of other deputy voter registrars, volunteers allowed to register voters on the spot, were out in force Saturday evening. While many states allow voters to register the day of an election, Texas voters must register one month before. The last day voters can register for the Nov. 6 election is Tuesday, since Monday is a federal holiday and the voter registrar office will be closed.

Voters who still need to register must visit their county voter registrar office to drop off a completed application or print and postmark an application to their county voter registrar by Tuesday. People can also register to vote when they obtain or

renew a driver’s license.

As part of the Motor Voter Act, a federal judge has ordered Texas to allow voters to register online, but such a system will not be implemented in time for this midterm election because the order has been stayed while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appeals the decision. Nonetheless, the Texas voter rolls have grown to 15.6 million people, a new record that is 1.6 million higher than the last midterm election, according to Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos.

The last way to register is through a deputy voter registrar, which is why Nasser and a number of volunteers were standing outside the Festival Chicano.

“It’s probably one of my top five favorite things to do because it’s so rewarding to help people have access,” said Erin Eriksen, another deputy voter registrar at the festival. Registrars will also be at a Beto O’Rourke voter registration rally from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Monday at White Oak Music Hall, 2915 N Main St.

Another volunteer was helping Paul Flores double-check whether he was still registered.

“It says no records found,” Beth Brashier said perplexedly.

States occasionally remove voters from the rolls. Such removals are meant to target felons and the deceased. Texas, however, sometimes mistakenly purges voters by incorrectly presuming them dead, according to a report by New York University Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice. Sometimes other mistakes are made, such as when 1,700 voter registrations were mistakenly suspended this year due to what Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett called a software glitch.

Voters can check whether they are registered on the Texas Secretary of State site, although the webpage is not the official register of a voter’s registration, which is instead kept by county voter registration offices.

Flores, who said he votes every year, filled out another voter registration form with a shrug.

“It pays just to check,” he said.