Voter Registration Deadline is Coming

If you plan on voting in the upcoming election, and I hope you do, you should make sure you are registered to vote. The deadline to register is coming.

According to a report from KXXV, Channel 25, 5.5 million Texans have not registered to vote in the 2020 Election.

Assistant Professor of Political Science at A&M Central Texas, Dr. John Koehler, says,

"In the last presidential election in 2016, 59% of registered voters in Texas turned out to vote, but that’s only 46% of the voting age population that actually turned out to vote. So, in Texas only 70% of the voting age population is registered to vote, which means there are roughly 5.5 million in the state of Texas that are not registered to vote."

Registering to vote is easy and you can start the process at home. Just print the registration application, fill it out and sign it and mail it in or, take it in to your local elections administration office.

Registering to vote is just step one, step two is to exercise your civic duty by showing up to the polls.

The deadline is October 5th so if you haven't already got it done, you are running out of time. If you are voting by absentee ballot, you need to request your ballot by October 3rd and it must be post marked by election day, which is November 3rd.

Officials are encouraging early voting, for those voting in-person. Early voting starts Oct 13.

However you decide to vote, you must first be registered. If you'd like a direct link to do so, or if you want to check and make sure you are registered, go to votetexas.gov.

If you're already registered and planning to vote early, here are times and locations for Bell County.