Voter registration deadline nears

By Editor | September 25, 2024

CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS

Eligible Texans planning to vote in the November general election have until Oct. 7 to register, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson reminds folks. The registration deadline applies to both early and election day voting.
“Texans have just a few short weeks left to register to vote, and I want to ensure all eligible Texans who want to make their voices heard are registered and prepared to do so,” Nelson said.
Instructions on how to register to vote and how to update existing voter registrations can be found at VoteTexas.org. To be eligible to vote, you must be a U.S. citizen, a resident of the county where you register and at least 18 years old on Election Day.
Texas officials say they have scrubbed voter rolls of more than 1 million voters deemed ineligible. The routine process culls people who have moved out of state or are dead. Voters can ensure they are registered by going to the My Voter Portal on the secretary of state’s website, https://teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov/MVP/mvp.do
Early voting begins on Oct. 21 and ends Nov. 1. The last day to apply for a ballot by mail is Oct. 25. Election Day is Nov. 5.
Judge tosses Paxton suit against Bexar County
A state district judge last week threw out a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against Bexar County’s plan to mail voter registration forms to country residents, The Texas Tribune reported. Since the forms have already been mailed, District Judge Antonia Arteaga ruled the case was moot.
Paxton sued the county to attempt to block the mailing of the forms. He asserted that the efforts in Bexar County, as well as in Harris and Travis counties, are a violation of state law and risk adding noncitizens to voter rolls. Bexar county commissioners called the claims misleading and unfounded.
A similar suit against Travis County has been moved to federal court, where county officials are also challenging Paxton’s efforts to stop voter registration efforts. In addition, Jolt, a nonprofit that is pushing for increased Latino participation in the electoral process, has sued Paxton after being targeted in a separate investigation into its registration efforts.
Project 2025 data shows little evidence of voter fraud
Data compiled by the Heritage Foundation, architect of the controversial Project 2025, indicates noncitizen voting in Texas is not a widespread problem, the Texas Newsroom reported.
A database maintained since 2017 houses state data since 2005. Only three instances of noncitizens casting ballots have been found since 2012, the database indicates.
The Heritage Foundation has recently sounded alarm bells about potential noncitizen voting in the upcoming general election. The American Immigration Council cited the foundation’s own data as proof that noncitizen voting is not a widespread problem.
“The lessons to take from Heritage’s own database are that noncitizen voting is not a serious problem and that to the extent rare cases occur, they would be best addressed by better training government workers to recognize immigration documents and follow procedure,” wrote Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the council.