2026 Election: National Voter Registration Day

Today is National Voter Registration Day. Joining us this morning to talk about it is Israel. Travis County Tax Assessor, Collector, and Voter Registrar. Kind of an unofficial holiday that's been in place since 2012. Thank you so much for taking some time out of a busy day to come talk to us about this. What exactly is going on today? Well, today, we've been in the middle of election season for quite a long time, but now we're in the middle of this registration season. And by state law, we have to get registered 30 days before the election. So that date is October 5th. So National Voter Registration Day is a way to sort of pick up and make aware that we are in the middle of registration time. Yeah, absolutely. And again, the October 5th deadline is so important. This is a date well in advance of that so people can make sure they're taken care of. And we're expecting at libraries and so many other places all throughout the community having little booths and setups where people can take care of this. Yeah, you're going to see a lot of activity. I think there's a strong culture of democracy and advocacy and voting, not just in Travis County, but in all of Central Texas, right? So you're going to be seeing an opportunity for us to make sure that our voice is heard by dropping off your voter registration applications at my offices. You can go to our website and see the five locations. You'll see opportunities to say, let's go to Thundercloud Subs. Let's go to Amy's Ice Cream. So there's a strong civic culture here of voting in this part of Texas. So look for all those opportunities and make your voice heard. This is going to be a big election. No doubt about that, and it's important to vote in every election. We say big election, but then some of the smaller ones that have these local offices, those are huge and sometimes get such small participation. Yeah, there's a lot going on. You've got a sample form here for the registration you can print off. Yeah, I brought a prop. This is a voter registration application. For our viewers who are not used to this, in Texas the state law says you have to get registered 30 days before, and I'm the voter registrar. So I'm also the tax lady, but I'm also the voter registrar. So that means fill out some simple information, verify your address. If any of you are concerned about your status, go to VoteTexas.gov, verify that you're registered. If there was a discrepancy, if I were you, I would fill out another one, submit it again. There's plenty of time to do that. There's plenty of time right now. Like in all things, don't wait until the last minute. You said, I know you're advocating do some of this in person, but you could print out one of these forms if there's a question, fill it out, and put it in the mail right now. For sure. Well in advance of that October 5th day. Yeah, we're getting hundreds of applications in our office. We're getting ramped up for all those late comers. You know, we're also a young and mobile state and a region. There are people who just moved here from Houston and are going to wake up in the middle of early voting and say, Oh my God, I wonder if I'm eligible to vote. Well, don't wonder. Go to VoteTexas.gov right now and double check that. If there's any question about anything in your mind, this is an opportunity to get it corrected or just get it confirmed. No, you're good to go. It hurts my heart if people wake up in the middle of the voting time and say, Oh, I didn't change my registration. Well, we're trying to sound that alarm. Go to VoteTexas.gov and make your voice heard. There's another website for the tax office right there. Thank you. For more information on all of it. We appreciate your time. Thank you. I know it will be a busy day. All the time. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.