Austin American-Statesman: Racing to meet Texas' voter registration deadline? Avoid mail, sign up in person.

If you want to cast a ballot in this year’s presidential election, the deadline to register to vote is Monday.

So please, if you haven’t already, make sure you’re registered and your information is up to date: Visit texas.gov/living-in-texas/texas-voter-registration.

And if you still need to register: It’s better to hand-deliver your voter registration application if the deadline is getting close, especially because the U.S. Postal Service has been experiencing delays that worry elections officials. In Travis County, volunteer deputy registrars will set up tables at more than two dozen locations Monday to accept voter registration applications or help people sign up.

“If you’re going to register at the last minute, give it to a (volunteer deputy registrar), don’t mail it in,” Travis County Voter Registrar Bruce Elfant told me. “I wouldn’t mail it in within two or three days of the deadline.”

“Every big cycle, we have 1,500 or 2,000 people who probably mailed it before midnight” on deadline day but didn’t get the postmark proving it, Elfant added. “Some of them didn’t look to see that the mailbox said the last pickup time (already happened), or the Postal Service just didn’t pick it up that day, and they didn’t get a timely postmark — and they didn’t get to register and vote for that election. It just makes me ill.”

Elfant doesn’t have any flexibility on this: The law requires voter registration applications to be postmarked or in the possession of election officials by the deadline. But his office is trying to make that easier by placing volunteer deputy registrars at the following locations Monday.

8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at the following Travis County Tax Office locations:

• Main location: 2433 Ridgepoint Dr.
• Pflugerville: 15822 Foothill Farms Loop
• Southeast Austin: 4011 McKinney Falls Pkwy.
• Southwest Austin: 8656 Texas 71, Building B
• Northwest Austin: 8110 RM 620 North

8 a.m. Monday to midnight: Travis County government office, 5501 Airport Blvd.

Noon to 8 p.m. Monday at the following Austin-area Thundercloud Subs locations:

• 2521 Rutland Drive, No. 100 (near the Domain)
• 1807 W. Slaughter Lane, No. 500
• 2308 Lake Austin Blvd.
• 2021 E. Riverside Drive, Suite A
• 3200 Guadalupe St., Suite B
• 1700 Grand Ave Pkwy, No. 200, Pflugerville
• 12400 Texas 71, No. 703, Bee Cave
• 2801 S. Lamar Blvd.
• 903 W. 12th St.
• 201 E. Riverside Drive (near Congress Avenue)
• 2500 W. Parmer Lane, No. 160
• 7930 Burnet Road, No. 11
• 6105 U.S. 290 East
• 5401 Burnet Road
• 13776 U.S. 183, No. 152
• 3601 W William Cannon Drive, No. 300
• 3201 Bee Cave Road, No. 171
• 6920 RM 620 North

• 4 p.m. Monday to midnight:

• Radio Coffee & Beer, 4204 Menchaca Road
• Radio Coffee East, 3504 Montopolis Dr.
• The Front Page, 1023 Springdale Road, Building 1

Events announced in Williamson County

The League of Women Voters of Williamson County has announced numerous voter registration events as well.

Saturday events:

• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the HBCU Fair and BSU Conference at Cedar Ridge High School, 2801 Gattis School Rd, Round Rock
• Noon to 3 p.m. at the Georgetown Public Library, 402 W 8th St, Georgetown
• 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Temple College Workforce Preview Day, 516 N Main St., Taylor
• 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Half Price Books, 13492 U.S. 183, Austin
• 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Half Price Books, 1335 E Whitestone Blvd., Cedar Park

• Monday events:

• 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Central Texas Beauty College, 1400 N Mays St., Round Rock
• Noon to 3 p.m. Leander Public Library, 1011 S Bagdad Road, Leander
• 4 to 8 p.m. Georgetown Public Library, 402 W 8th St., Georgetown
• 5 to 8:30 p.m. Round Rock Public Library, 200 E Liberty Ave., Round Rock
• 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Williamson County Elections Office, 301 SE Inner Loop, Unit 104, Georgetown

Making sure every voice counts

Registering to vote should be as easy as possible, said Thundercloud Subs co-owner Mike Haggerty, who has long welcomed nonpartisan voter registration efforts at the sandwich shops.

“It’s a one-minute process: You show your ID, it’s super fast to have it happen,” he told me. “Making it easier probably gives people the motivation to get it done and be part of the process.”

And ultimately that ensures more people are heard at a time when every voice counts.