Voter registration: Key deadline looms
Published 8:59 am Monday, February 5, 2018
People are ever free to complain about the shape of their government in Texas.
But if they’re determined to do something this year about the state of political affairs, they need to register to vote by Monday.
Unregistered voters have until Monday afternoon — the tax assessor-collector’s Beaumont, Mid County and Port Arthur offices are open until 4:30 — to register. That’s if they want to vote in the March 6 primary elections for the Democratic and Republican parties. Early voting starts Feb. 20 and ends March 2.
They can also register by mail, if they have confidence their mailed registrations will be postmarked by the Feb. 5 deadline. But Allison Nathan Getz, tax assessor-collector, cautioned that Jefferson County mail goes through Houston, so there is no guarantee registrants by mail will get the needed postmark if they wait until Monday to drop their envelope in the mailbox.
“I’m always encouraging people to vote,” Getz said. “I hate it when people complain but don’t take the time to register or vote.”
We agree. There is no right more precious than to cast your ballot. Every vote weighs the same, no matter your wealth or social status.
And voting, especially with an extended early voting period, has never been more convenient.
Getz said it’s difficult to predict voter turnout, especially in a year when there is no presidential election. In 2016, with the decision about a president at stake, 59.52 percent of Jefferson County voters made it to the polls. That was up from 36.8 percent turnout in 2014, the last time we voted without a presidential race.
Getz said there may be too few competitive primary races to fire up voters. That’s what drives voters to the polls, she said.
Republicans and Democrats here will each choose in 11 competitive primary races. They will also decide on many propositions. But marquee matchups like county judge won’t be decided until November. Some high-profile positions, like U.S. Senate and representative, may not be competitive or attractive enough in the primary.
Other factors may affect turnout. Voters displaced by Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey may have moved to distant points in the county or beyond its borders. Not to worry — unless you’ve registered to vote elsewhere, she said, you can still cast your ballot here.
Some 18,000 voters were placed on the “suspense” list, which means when the county did a voter mail-out in December, those voters’ cards were returned as undeliverable.
Getz said voters numbered about 149,000 in 2016 and about 141,000 in December. Since then, the rolls have swelled by an additional 5,000 votes here.
We encourage voters to study the candidates and be informed when they cast ballots. But the first step in voting comes with registration. Time is short.