This year’s Texas voter registration outpaced 2018 midterm numbers, according to Sam Taylor of the Texas Secretary of State’s office.
“This is a midterm election year. So, if we compare the midterms of today to 2018, we’ve got approximately two million more registered voters now than we did four years ago heading into the last gubernatorial election,” he said.
Texas has about 17.6 million registered voters this year, compared to 15.7 million registered voters in 2018.
“It’s not surprising that every election that we’ve seen since 2016 has seen more engagement, more attention around it, and higher turnaround,” Taylor continued.
The Dallas County elections office held a drive-thru registration on Tuesday night until 11:59 p.m.
Laura Varela with the Dallas County elections office said people appreciated the convenience of the process since Tuesday was the voter registration deadline.
“It’s awesome. I’ve been doing this for seven years. Two presidential elections, and every election counts,” she said.
Roughly 400 potential voters completed registration forms by mid-afternoon.
Maria Nelda Galvan, who recently became a United States citizen, said, “It’s what everybody does. It’s our responsibility. I have a vote. I have a voice. I want to use it.”
Varela said the Dallas County elections office held this event to make sure as many qualified Texans as possible are able to participate in this November’s elections.
“It all starts with education,” she suggested, “educating them on registering to vote.”
As the midterm season approaches, the Dallas County elections office is struggling to recruit enough poll workers, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
During a Dallas County commissioners court meeting on October 4, election supervisor Michael Scarpello shared that only slightly more than half of the needed 3,000 poll workers had been confirmed.
Early voting for the midterm elections begins on October 24, while election day will be held on November 8.