Record 16 Million Texans Registered To Vote: 'Good Sign For Healthy, Vibrant Democracy'
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - With a booming population, Texas now has more than 16 million registered voters, which is the most ever for the state.
Records from the Texas Secretary of State's Office show that's about 925,000 more registered voters than in January 2018 and nearly two million more than in January 2016, the last presidential election year.
Stephanie Martin, an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at SMU said, "It's exciting when people register to vote. People registering to vote is a good sign for a healthy, vibrant democracy."
Non-partisan groups are registering voters, including March to the Polls, which said it will register 9,000 students to vote this year, along with 9,000 non-students.
Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Carol Donovan said they continue to hold days of action to register voters.
"We're registering as many people as possible in hopes they will vote. We just simply asked people happy register to vote and people who hadn't registered we're very excited about registering," said Donovan.
Dallas County Republican Party Chair Rodney Anderson says they're also actively registering voters.
"It's very encouraging. We as a Republican party are getting 10,000 people to register ten people in their neighborhood. I've got my list sitting on my desk," Anderson said.
The Texas Democratic and Texas Republican parties have large voter registration efforts as well.
But state records show millions of Texans stayed home during past elections.
In November, 2018, nearly 15.8 million people were registered to vote, but only about 8.4 million people actually voted.
In November, 2016, there were more than 15.1 million registered to vote, yet only about 8.9 million people voted.
Assistant Professor Martin said, "An increase in registration doesn't tell us anything about an increase in motivation to actually get to the polls. It just means more people have registered to vote."
That's why both Donovan and Anderson said another major and vital effort theirs is to get people out to vote.
If you haven't yet registered to vote for the Super Tuesday primary on March 3, there's still time.
The deadline to do so is Monday, February 3.
