Breckenridge Texan

Are you registered to vote? Last month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that, since he signed an update of the state’s election laws in 2021, the state has removed about one million people from the voter rolls, a process which is ongoing.

The people who were deleted from the voter rolls include those who moved out-of-state, are deceased, and are noncitizens, according to a media release from the governor’s office. However, almost 500,000 names were removed because they were on the “suspense list.” According to the Texas Secretary of State’s office, voters can end up on the suspense list in two ways: 1. Their voter registration card is returned to the county voter registrar as undeliverable, or 2. the registrar has reason to believe that a voter’s current residence is different from that indicated on the registration records and sends out a written confirmation notice, automatically placing the voter on the suspense list.

To check and see if you are registered to vote, visit the Secretary of State’s website (click here). You will need to know one of the following: 1. your Voter Unique Identifier (VUID), which appears on your voter registration certificate; 2. your Texas driver’s license number, if you provided it when you applied for voter registration; or 3. your first and last name. Or, you can call the voter registrar’s office at 254-522-9498. Jared McLane is the Stephens County Elections Administrator.

The deadline to register to vote in the upcoming election will be Monday, Oct. 7.

To register to vote, you can obtain a voter registration application from the Stephens County Tax Assessor/Elections office at the courthouse, 200 W. Walker St. You can also fill out a voter registration application online or request a postage-paid application be mailed to you. Note: If you fill out a voter registration application online using that link, you must print the completed application and send or take it to the county voter registrar’s office.

You are eligible to register to vote if:

• You are a United States citizen;
• You are a resident of the county where you submit the application;
• You are at least 17 years and 10 months old on the date your voter registration application is submitted, and you are 18 years of age on Election Day.
• You are not a convicted felon (you may be eligible to vote if you have completed your sentence, probation, and parole); and
• You have not been declared by a court exercising probate jurisdiction to be either totally mentally incapacitated or partially mentally incapacitated without the right to vote.

The election will include the U.S. Presidency, as well as several other federal and state offices. Locally, there are several uncontested races, but the two county commissioner positions each have one candidate who was put on the ballot via the March Republican Primary Election and one write-in candidate. Houston Satterwhite is running as a write-in candidate for the Precinct 3 County Commissioner position against incumbent Will Warren, who ran unopposed in the Republican Primary. Stephens County resident Chad Jones is running as a write-in candidate for the Precinct 1 County Commissioner position against incumbent David Fambro, who ran unopposed in the Republican Primary.

The Nov. 5 election also will a special ballot for Stephens County residents who live outside the city limits of Breckenridge. The Stephens County Commissioners Court has proposed adding a county sales tax of 2%, and county residents who live outside the municipality will have an opportunity to vote on the tax. Currently Stephens County does not charge sales tax in addition to the State of Texas sales tax of 6.25%. The Breckenridge Texan will have more information on this topic in an upcoming article.