Are you ACTUALLY registered to vote?

By Julie Garcia

In an election year, it’s easy to feel like Mr. Krabs in that spinny, unfocused gif. There’s so much information to take in and process, and most of that information makes us want to throw up.

But there is only one piece of information you NEED to know as a citizen of the U.S. and Texas during an election year, and that is whether your voter registration will be active on Election Day (Nov. 5). The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 7.

Check your voter registration on the My Voter Portal on Texas Secretary of State website: https://teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov/MVP/mvp.do

Here’s the information you can use to find whether you are registered to vote:

• Name, county you live in, date of birth
• Voter unique identification number, date of birth
• Texas Drivers License number, date of birth 

Gov. Greg Abbott promotes VoteTexas.gov to check voter registration. When you hit the landing page, click on “AM I REGISTERED?” and you will be brought to the My Voter Portal.

The Purge

In August, Abbott proudly announced that one million people have been removed from Texas’ voter rolls since 2021.

Abbott wanted to claim a victory for “purging” voter rolls last month. He claimed Senate Bill 2 (2021) is the reason he was able to kick registrants off the list of eligible voters, including noncitizens, those with a felony conviction, dead people, people who requested to cancel their voter registration and people who failed to respond to a “notice of examination.”

A 30-day notice of examination is sent to a registered voter when the Secretary of State’s office is examining their registration status based on these grounds:

• The person may not be a U.S. citizen.
• The person is younger than 18.
• The person has been convicted of a felony.
• The person has been determined mentally incapacitated or partially mentally incapacitated by a final judgment of a court exercising probate jurisdiction.

Suspense List 

Another confusing part of Abbott’s self-proclaimed voter integrity victory is that more than 463,000 voters purged were from the “suspense list.” According to The Dispatch, voters who have official mail returned as undeliverable by USPS are added to a suspense list and sent a Notice of Address Confirmation.

Official mail includes jury summons and renewal certificates by government entities (like car registration renewals from the county). If the voter does not respond to the notice and does not vote in the preceding two general elections, then their registration is subject to cancellation.

However, KHOU-11 in Houston clarified that Texas will purge the current “suspense list” from voter rolls after the 2024 election. Voters on the suspense list are still allowed to vote in the upcoming election, so long as they can attest to their address on the date they are casting a ballot, KHOU reported.

And just in case you didn't know, you will need one of these three items to vote during early voting (Oct. 21-Nov. 1) or on Election Day (again, Nov. 5):

• Texas driver’s license
• Texas-issued identification card
• Voter registration card sent by the county you live in 

The November election is important on so many levels: local, state, national, international and probably outer space, too. So, think about it and vote!