🗳️ Voter Registration Deadline Looms: Don't Get Left Behind! 🗳️

Listen up, y'all! The deadline to register to vote in the presidential election is Monday. If you haven't done it yet, get off your tail and make sure you're registered! Here's the deal: Visit texas.gov/living-in-texas/texas-voter-registration.

For those who still need to sign up: Hand-deliver your voter registration application. The US Postal Service has been dragging its heels lately, which has got election officials sweating bullets. In Travis County, volunteer deputy registrars will be at over two dozen locations on Monday to take your applications or help you register.

“If you’re going to register at the last minute, give it to a (volunteer deputy registrar), don’t mail it in,” Travis County Voter Registrar Bruce Elfant said. “I wouldn’t mail it in within two or three days of the deadline.”

“Every big cycle, we have 1,500 or 2,000 people who probably mailed it before midnight” on deadline day but didn’t get the postmark proving it, Elfant added. “Some of them didn’t look to see that the mailbox said the last pickup time (already happened), or the Postal Service just didn’t pick it up that day, and they didn’t get a timely postmark — and they didn’t get to register and vote for that election. It just makes me ill.”

Elfant doesn’t have any wiggle room here: The law says voter registration applications must be postmarked or with election officials by the deadline. But to make it easier, volunteer deputy registrars will be at these locations on Monday:

8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at the following Travis County Tax Office locations:

• Main location: 2433 Ridgepoint Dr.
• Pflugerville: 15822 Foothill Farms Loop
• Southeast Austin: 4011 McKinney Falls Pkwy.
• Southwest Austin: 8656 Texas 71, Building B
• Northwest Austin: 8110 RM 620 North

8 a.m. Monday to midnight: Travis County government office, 5501 Airport Blvd. Note: At this location, volunteer deputy registrars with the League of Women Voters will register folks from the following counties: Bastrop, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Comal, Coryell, Falls, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Hays, Hill, Kendall, Kerr, Lampasas, Llano, McLennan, Milam, Travis, and Williamson.

Noon to 8 p.m. Monday at the following Austin-area Thundercloud Subs locations:

• 2521 Rutland Drive, No. 100 (near the Domain)
• 1807 W. Slaughter Lane, No. 500
• 2308 Lake Austin Blvd.
• 2021 E. Riverside Drive, Suite A
• 3200 Guadalupe St., Suite B
• 1700 Grand Ave Pkwy, No. 200, Pflugerville
• 12400 Texas 71, No. 703, Bee Cave
• 2801 S. Lamar Blvd.
• 903 W. 12th St.
• 201 E. Riverside Drive (near Congress Avenue)
• 2500 W. Parmer Lane, No. 160
• 7930 Burnet Road, No. 11
• 6105 U.S. 290 East
• 5401 Burnet Road
• 13776 U.S. 183, No. 152
• 3601 W William Cannon Drive, No. 300
• 3201 Bee Cave Road, No. 171
• 6920 RM 620 North

4 p.m. Monday to midnight:

• Radio Coffee & Beer, 4204 Menchaca Road
• Radio Coffee East, 3504 Montopolis Dr.
• The Front Page, 1023 Springdale Road, Building 1

Events Announced in Williamson County

The League of Women Voters of Williamson County has a bunch of voter registration events lined up too.

Saturday events:

• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the HBCU Fair and BSU Conference at Cedar Ridge High School, 2801 Gattis School Rd, Round Rock
• Noon to 3 p.m. at the Georgetown Public Library, 402 W 8th St, Georgetown
• 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Temple College Workforce Preview Day, 516 N Main St., Taylor
• 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Half Price Books, 13492 U.S. 183, Austin
• 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Half Price Books, 1335 E Whitestone Blvd., Cedar Park

Monday events:

• 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Central Texas Beauty College, 1400 N Mays St., Round Rock
• Noon to 3 p.m. Leander Public Library, 1011 S Bagdad Road, Leander
• 4 to 8 p.m. Georgetown Public Library, 402 W 8th St., Georgetown
• 5 to 8:30 p.m. Round Rock Public Library, 200 E Liberty Ave., Round Rock
• 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Williamson County Elections Office, 301 SE Inner Loop, Unit 104, Georgetown

Making Sure Every Voice Counts

Thundercloud Subs co-owner Mike Haggerty, who has always welcomed nonpartisan voter registration at the sandwich shops, said registration should be a breeze.

“It’s a one-minute process: You show your ID, it’s super fast to have it happen,” he said. “Making it easier probably gives people the motivation to get it done and be part of the process.”

And that ensures more people are heard when every voice counts.

Grumet is the Statesman’s Metro columnist. Her column, ATX in Context, contains her opinions. Share yours via email at bgrumet@statesman.com or on X at @bgrumet. Find her previous work at statesman.com/opinion/columns.