AUSTIN, Texas — Monday is the last day to register to vote for the July 14 runoff and special election, and the Travis County Tax Office has curbside registration for the first time since the pandemic started, welcoming potential voters in person.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott delayed the upcoming primary runoffs from May to July after the coronavirus pandemic hit the state of Texas.
"We certainly want the outcome to be a representative of our community and state," said Bruce Elfant, Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar. "Some of our volunteer deputy registrars have been out in their front yards and things like that. We're encouraging people to only register voters in a safe manner, and you'll see here that all our volunteer registrars are masked. We've asked our voters to be masked."
July's election is less than a month away and folks with the Travis County Tax Office don't want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to vote.
The Travis County Clerk Dana Debeauvoir said they received a surprising amount of requests for ballots by mail and expect a good chunk of them to go out in Monday's mail.
"A lot of people sent their request for by-mail in accordance with the original election date, and we're two or three months past that, so we've been holding some of them for a long time. Voters are kind of wondering, 'Well, when am I going to get a ballot by mail,'" said Debeauvoir.
Texas is still in a legal battle about whether or not voting by mail can be expanded. That could go all the way to the Supreme Court.
The Travis County Clerk has a website with all the election information here. You can find Ballot-By-Mail information here.
Elfant said Monday had a steady turnout and they'll continue to find ways to safely register as many people as they can.
"Research the people on the propositions on the ballot and make their voices heard. That's the way our system's supposed to work," said Elfant.
Curbside voter registration will be available until 9 p.m. at the Travis County main tax office at 5501 Airport Blvd.
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