Texas has set a new voter registration record, which could lead to a record number of votes in a midterm election that has placed the state in the national spotlight.
According to the Texas Secretary of State’s office, so far, 1.6 million new voters registered to vote since the 2014 midterm elections. The state agency said 400,000 of those applications were filed with their office since March. Bexar County saw an an increase of more than 28,000 voter registrations since during that span.
Richard Perez, president of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, said they’re not only hoping these new voters will indeed show up to vote, but also research the candidates and issues on the November ballot.
“Step one is getting registered, but let’s set that aside. We want people to get educated and go out and vote, so we created a website that was just launched called YourVoteSA.com, and again it’s got information about the candidates and about the initiatives,” Perez said.
Grace Chimene, president of the Texas chapter of the League of Women Voters, said she believes much of the renewed belief in the voting system has to do with competition.
“It’s the closeness in margins for most of these elections, but it’s also that there’s competition. Many times there’s just not that many people to vote for. There’s just one side to vote for in many elections, so (this year) there’s more candidates to choose from,” Chemene said.
The last day to register to vote for the November midterm election is Oct 9. The first day of early voting is Oct 22.
Ryan Poppe can be reached at rpoppe@tpr.org or on Twitter @RyanPoppe1
