Viral video highlights lack of online voter registration in Texas

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Texas woman's video is gaining traction on social media after she pointed out how the state does not allow people to register to vote online, serving as an important reminder to Texans about the correct process to follow so that they can cast a ballot in November.

Adrienne Quinn Martin, who lives in Granbury, recorded herself talking about how there is a registration form available on the Texas Secretary of State's Office and urged people not to be confused by a "submit" button at the bottom of the page. Her clip has now garnered millions of views across social media platforms and got shared by several celebrities, including musician Questlove and comedian Sarah Silverman.

"In 2020 I got multiple calls, including from my sister on Election Day. They waited in line. You know, they had their ID. They went to vote and were turned away and told they were not registered," Martin said Tuesday. "After questioning them, I figured out they all had registered online, so I went to the Secretary of State's website and found this very, what I think, is a very deceptive voter registration page."

The Texas Secretary of State's Office announced it changed that button Monday to now say "continue" rather than "submit" in order to bring some additional clarity. There's also a message below the updated button written in red text making it clear that once voters add their information into the online form, they still need to print it out, sign it and submit it to the county where they live in order to complete their registration.

The office would not say, though, if the attention from Martin's recent video helped lead to that change.

"I'm thrilled," Martin said upon learning the state made that update. "I feel like the final step would be removing access to type into the form at all."

Since each county is responsible for running its own voter registration operation, the Texas Secretary of State's Office encourages people with questions to contact their local county voter registrar. For those who live in Travis County, that would be the Tax Assessor-Collector's Office. The number to call there is 512-854-9473.

Bruce Elfant, the county's tax assessor-collector, said Tuesday he's long pushed for the state to make online voter registration available broadly in the state. For now, though, he'd like to remind people about how the current process works.

"If you're a new new resident or turning 18 or becoming a citizen or getting out of prison and getting your rights back, the best thing to do is find a paper application," Elfant explained. "You can find them in any post office or library or any tax office location. You can go to [the Secretary of State's website] and print one out, fill it out and turn it into any tax office location or to a volunteer deputy registrar. As far as mailing, we certainly encourage people to fill them out and mail them in, but I would really caution against mailing them anywhere close to the deadline. We commonly receive applications that I'm sure were mailed in time but didn't get a timely postmark, and we have to go by the postmark. So if you're going to mail it, mail it like five days before the deadline, but I'm pretty paranoid, so I would literally walk it into the office and hand it to a tax office employee."

The state's top Republican leaders have previously not supported efforts to create an online voter registration option in Texas, but State Rep. John Bucy III, an Austin Democrat, said he plans to revive his proposals to make that push next year at the Capitol.

"We're going to make sure that that is something that's available to all Texans, so I'm going to file these bills again," Bucy said Tuesday. "We're going to keep talking about how if we want accurate voter rolls, this is the best way to get it done, and hopefully we'll see the governor and lieutenant governor wake up to this need."

People should mark their calendars because the last day to register to vote in time for the November general election is Oct. 7. The early voting period begins on Oct. 21. If someone cannot head to the polls in person, then they can also apply for a ballot by mail by Oct. 25.