County election offices may be getting overwhelmed with voter registrations?

[rainbow4321]

Hmmm. Hoping this is not a sign of problems to come during voting.

Found out today that our (TX) county's election office, the one that processes voter registration cards is getting overwhelmed with having to process the tons of extra voters registering by mail and from those dropped off at their office by volunteer deputy registrars (from voter drives). They hired an extra person for the office but are soooo behind that the head of the registrar's office is telling volunteer deputy registrars to tell people they may OR MAY NOT get their actual voter registration card in the mail by Nov 4th..so we are to keep reminding them to bring the receipt we sign and give them when they register at one of the voter drives when they go to the polls.

So in addition to REALLY, really pushing early voting, we are giving out the websites to people that they can go to so they can verify that they are on the county's list. And telling them to keep the receipt with them!
Hoping early voting is the key to keep Texans from waiting in God knows how long lines on Nov 4th..especially if some areas pull the typical "we didn't order enough machines...who KNEW the turnout was going to so huge" bullshit.

I can see this "overwhelmed county election office" being an issue nationwide...


On a positive note, the registration table that I volunteered at today registered 100 people in the 4 hours that I was there and they still had 2 hours left to go in the drive!

[Diamonique]

1. This is very disheartening.

The primaries should have let elections officials all over the country know that there would be gazillions of new registrants. They should have been ready for this.

And they'd also better be ready for the huge numbers of voters they'll see on November 4th. They have no excuse for not having enough working machines or ballots.

Not this time!

[rainbow4321]

4. Apparently the poll judges during our county's primary election

had their hands a little too full with the crowds showing up back THEN. I imagine so since the number of Dems who voted in the primaries (per our county election website)was 70,000---compared to the 2004 primaries which had 6493 total Dem primary votes. And the last number I heard about how many NEW voters that have been registered in this county alone was 23,000 SINCE the primaries. That stat was from like a month ago so there is no telling what the total is now in that we are in the final days of registering people (deadline is Monday). Put those numbers together (93,000) with the number of already registered Dems who didn't vote in the primaries but will show up for the general election and we are talking historic numbers. Keep in mind this doesn't include the repub voters who will be in line (the county has gone 70-30 repuke over the last decade of elections).

The local Dem leaders have asked anyone who is qualified to sign up as poll workers to help on Election Day in hopes of poll judges and alternate judges not having a huge crowd problem on their hands.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

2. This is their job.

I might in the wrong for thinking this. But isn't this their job to process these registrations. They can hire people to do so.

[yellowdogintexas]

3. which county?

[rainbow4321]

5. Collin. n/t

[yellowdogintexas]

6. THAT is very encouraging: We have had good new voter registration here in Tarrant

CO, but Collin county is after all Plano.

[rainbow4321]

7. You see how many new voters have registered in Dallas County?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7319331&mesg_id=7320935

125,000 new voters!! And they expect 40,000 more by the Oct 6th deadline!

[yellowdogintexas]

11. WOW! I knew we were busy registering but that is incredible.

I am trying to plug some phonebanking into my calendar between now and Election Day. Starting a new job 10/20, daughter coming in for a few days, husband in town for his rotation also; after weeks of not much happening, suddenly I am swamped!

One thing our county org is talking about is being prepared for people who come to vote wearing Obama gear. There is concern that these newly excited and registered voters will show up in their Obama T shirts and so on. So we have been asked to round up some X and XX large T shirts, in dark opaque colors so a volunteer can be outside the 100 foot line to hand to voters who can't otherwise cover up or remove their gear, then collect them back when the voter returns from the poll booth.

After election day, we can donate the shirts to a worthy cause.

I have a source for these and will pick up a couple dozen

[rainbow4321]

12. You hit the nail on the head about what voters where when they head to the poll

I overheard some of my co-workers (Obama supporters who are really looking forward to heading to the polls) say "And I'm gonna wear my Obama shirt when I go vote that day!!" Nooooooo....don't do that!! I went over about voters not being allowed to wear partisan clothes or pins, etc...within a 100 feet of our polling booths. I felt bad telling them, they were really bummed. So I put it in simple terms "No, it is not a new law, it's been in place a long time and how much would it suck to have to go home and change clothes that day and have to get in line AGAIN??
Good idea about the large tshirts. I'm gonna volunteer as a poll watcher that day. May swing by our Salvation Army store and buy some big t shirts and keep some in my car that day JUST in case!


BTW, look at my thread about just how MANY registration cards are being delivered to DFW area county election offices each DAY!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7337560&mesg_id=7337560

[rexy]

8. I'm in Austin, Texas.

I'm already registered but I moved to a new apartment in August. I did the change of address form online a couple of weeks ago. I haven't checked my mail in a week, so it may or may not be here, but what if I haven't gotten my new card? I didn't get a receipt because I did it online.

I plan on voting early. Luckily they offer early voting here on campus at UT.

[rainbow4321]

9. You don't need a receipt but we did it as a precaution for those who

said they registered over a month ago and had not gotten any response from the county..and they had not checked their status online because they didn't know that was available.

So we let them fill out a regsitration application while they were at our booth as a precaution. We told them to go home and check the county website to see for themselves if they were added to the county database. Most felt more comfortable leaving our table with something tangible in their hands that showed they had registered.

Here is where you can do a search in Travis County by just putting your name in:
http://www.traviscountytax.org/showVoterNameSearch.do

My daughter goes to UT Austin so I just did a quick search to see that she is updated. Click on your name and it will give the address they have listed.


This may help you also:

http://www.traviscountytax.org/goQuestions.do#voters

Promptly notify the Travis County Voter Registration Office in writing of your new address by:
correcting the information on your current voter registration certificate and returning it to the voter registrar.

OR

Change your address online. You will receive a new, corrected certificate within 30 days.
You will be able to vote in your new precinct 30 days after your notice has been received.

Meanwhile:

You may vote a full ballot in your former precinct if your registration has not become effective in the new precinct. If you are voting in a local election such as a city, school district, (etc.), and your new address is outside the district of your former address, you will no longer be able to vote on that district's ballot.

[rexy]

10. Thanks for all the info.

I just checked and it has my updated address. :)