New voter registrations plummeted during the pandemic in Texas, where you can’t register online
If this were like any other election year, volunteers for MOVE Texas, which works to engage young voters, would’ve been at Mooov-In Day at the University of Texas at Austin, equipped with sign-up sheets, clipboards and fold-out tables, looking to register thousands of young people moving away from home for the first time.
But 2020 is not a normal year.
“All the traditional places are off limits,” said Charlie Bonner, the communications director for the organization. “We’re not deploying any of our organizers to campuses because it’s not responsible.”
The coronavirus has brought widespread concern about how people can vote safely in Texas this November, especially as the state’s elected leaders have resisted the idea of broadening who is eligible to vote by mail. But the state is already seeing one major effect of the pandemic on voting: It’s much harder to register voters.
Forty-one states have passed legislation to allow residents to register to vote online. Texas is not one of them, and the state’s Republican leadership has long fought efforts to allow for an online voter registration process. Voting advocates and local election officials have made do with mail initiatives, avoiding what were once standard in-person initiatives at community events, high school graduations and public squares.
In the first seven months of 2020, new registrations in Texas were down nearly 24% compared with that same time frame in 2016, according to numbers from the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research. In April alone, registrations dropped 70%. Numbers have climbed back up over the summer, but that rebound might not be enough to get the state back to where it could have been, said David Becker, the center’s director.
“We’re not seeing an increase in voter registration activity that compensates for the decrease that we’ve seen in previous months,” he said. “In Texas, there’s still a pretty big overall deficit for the year in terms of new voter registration activity.”
The effects are being felt by both parties. Democrats and Republicans told The Texas Tribune that they’re struggling with voter registration in the era of COVID-19.
… The closure of driver’s license offices might have also played a role. While Texas has turned to online services during the pandemic, the state doesn’t allow residents to register when they renew their driver’s licenses online. And several state offices were closed or opened under a limited capacity as the pandemic worsened. Texas began the process of gradually reopening the driver’s license offices in late May.
In late August, a U.S. district judge found that Texas is “legally obligated” under the National Voter Registration Act to allow voters to simultaneously register to vote if they renew or update their driver’s licenses online. The judge ordered the state to have a system in place by Sept. 23 — less than two weeks before the registration deadline — but that decision could still be appealed.
Currently, Texans who want to register while using the state’s online portal are directed to a blank registration form they must fill out, print and send to their county registrar.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/09/17/texas-voter-registration/