Your voter registration card is in the mail

Someone was just asking me about this, so I’m glad to see that they’re on their way.

Still the only voter ID anyone should need

The only voter ID anyone should need

Harris County officials prepared to ship out 1.7 million voter registration cards Tuesday – after an unprecedented nearly five-month delay resulting from a grilling court battle over redistricting.

Across Texas, election officials are required to send out new voter registration cards to all 11.6 million active voters no later than Wednesday, under deadlines set by a federal judge who oversaw the redistricting case. Some counties already sent out their cards, but Secretary of State Spokesman Rich Parsons said he could not confirm how many would meet the judge-imposed time limit.

Renee Fleming, a business service network representative with the U.S. Postal Service, oversaw the delivery of 6,255 pounds of cards at the Houston downtown post office on Tuesday.

[…]

Statewide, however, about 1.3 million registered voters, nearly 1 in 10, won’t get a new card this week because they are listed as being “in suspense” – which typically means officials lack a valid address for them. In Harris County, one in five voters under 30 is “in suspense,” mainly because younger voters tend to move a lot.

“The bulk is people who have moved and not updated their addresses,” said Harris County voter registration manager Tom Moon. “They can still vote – they’re not ‘unregistered.’ ”

Any Texas voter who doesn’t receive a new yellow registration card soon – and hasn’t moved out of county – can vote with a valid ID. However, voters should check their registration status and update addresses or re-register by midnight on April 30 to avoid problems or paperwork at the polls, if they plan to vote in the May 29 primaries, Parsons said.

Voters can update addresses online if they remained in the same county and have a Texas driver’s license.

So there you have it. As the sidebar of the story somewhat messily notes, you can learn more at VoteTexas.gov, you can confirm your registration status here, and you can update your address if you moved within the same county and have ID here. New voters will get their cards a little later. I would say that unless you’re one of those new voters if you don’t have your voter registration card by the end of next week, you should probably call the Harris County Tax Assessor’s office at 713 274 8683 to inquire. And if you aren’t currently registered to vote, the deadline to do so for the May 29 primary is Monday, April 30. Time’s running out, so don’t wait any longer.

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