October 13, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic proved no match for Travis County residents as a record 97 percent of eligible voters registered to vote.
Currently, more than 850,000 voters are registered in Travis County.
“This number even exceeds my expectations,” said Bruce Elfant, the county voter registrar and tax assessor-collector. “To everyone who registered to vote, thank you. To our civic army of volunteers who registered voters, thank you. To my voter registration staff, thank you.”
Elfant also praised the tax office’s contactless voter registration program, Text2Register, which was used by more than 4,700 county residents, and the University of Texas Athletics Department, especially the Longhorn Football Team’s Coach Tom Herman with players Chris Brown, Joseph Ossai and Josh Thompson for their public service announcements promoting voter registration.
While he is proud of how many people registered to vote, Elfant said there are two parts to the process of doing your civic and patriotic duty. “Now all those that are registered have to get out and vote,” he said.
Early voting begins today. Polling locations, hours of operation, voter records and information on mail-in ballots available at www.VoteTravis.com. Election day is Nov. 3.
It is not unusual for the number of voters to be far less than the number of voter registrations, Elfant said. “We are all hoping that this election is different and we not only have a record number of registrations but a record number of voters casting ballots,” he added.