As the November General Election draws near, county election offices are making the necessary preparations to be ready for voters as well as informing community members of important deadlines.
Hockley County Election Administrator Jody Rose has been pleased with community member initiative in checking their voter registration for the upcoming election.
“We have had quite a few people checking their registration, making sure they are active and having all of their details correct,” said Rose. “I highly encourage everyone to check your voter registration.”
If an individual has a yellow voter registration card that has an expiration date of December 31, 2025, the registration is likely active unless the office received something back in the mail and it’s in suspense.
Regardless, those individuals would still be able to vote in the election, the office will need to get a correct address or something on the record would need to be corrected.
The elections office was open this past Saturday for anyone that would have like to come in and check their voter registration or to register to vote.
The deadline is approaching fast for the for the November election with it being October 7. The deadline is 30 days prior to the November 5 election which means community members must be registered by that day and the office must have a correct address by that day.
This will allow everything to pull up smoothly on election day as the cut off allows election offices to get everything programmed in for the election.
To register, residents can visit the Hockley County Elections Office at 911 Austin St. in Levelland or go online to the Texas Secretary of State’s website at www.votetexas.gov for more information and to download a voter registration form. Completed forms must be postmarked by October 6.
If community members need additional assistance or have questions about voter registration, please contact the Hockley County Elections Office at (806)-894-1105.
For smaller elections offices, those individuals are continuously working to accommodate new changes the state have implemented.
“It is definitely harder on the smaller counties. One law change that took effect last year in early 2023 was in regards to early voting and the times that early voting is held,” explained Rose. “The smaller counties now have to do what larger counties larger counties have done for several years and that is offering 12 hour days the second week of early voting.”
For this upcoming election that runs October 28 through November 1, that Monday through Friday, the elections office will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. all five days.
“That is a long and strenuous process for smaller counties,” said Rose. “It is hard to find poll workers anyway and there are very limited staffs in the small election offices.”
Rose’s office consists of two part-time assistants and one college student that works parttime.
“It is very hard on the limited staff of small offices to be able to staff the increased hours on early voting and the cost to the small counties is another factor,” explained Rose. “Counties bear the expense of this election. This includes the general election all county, federal and state elections comes at the sole cost of the county taxpayers.”
Rose says the cost of the election along has definitely increased with those longer days. This is also attributed to having to be open Saturday and Sunday during early voting now which was not the case in the past.
“All eyes are on this years General Election and counties as a whole are working to make sure that the election goes smoothly,” said Rose. “My team has been working for the last 30 days with the sole purpose of working towards the November 5 election and making sure that we have all I’s dotted and T’s crossed to make sure everything is done according to the law for that election.”
Announced in late August, since the signing of Senate Bill One into law in 2021 the state of Texas have removed over 1,000,000 people from the state to voter rolls including people who moved out of state or deceased and non citizens that removal process has been and will continue to be ongoing.
The secretary of states office for the State of Texas along with county voter registrars and election administrators have an ongoing legal requirement to review the voter rolls and remove ineligible voters and refer any potential illegal voting to the attorney general’s office for possible prosecution.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott also signed House Bill 1243 in the law last year that increased the penalty for illegal voting including voting by non citizens to a second degree. Felony removal of people from the voter rolls is an ongoing process that county election offices participate in along with the Texas Secretary of State’s office.
For Hockley County in 2023, Rose stated two voters were removed from the voter rolls at their request, 11 were removed due to confirmation of being involved in felony conviction, 172 that were removed due to being deceased and there were 373 duplicate voters which means they had a voter registration in another county or state which usually means these individuals moved to another county or state and it did not get cancelled in the state system which can be for a number of reasons, according to Rose.