DALLAS – The Dallas County Elections Office is busy, right now. People are rushing to register to vote before the October 9 deadline.
Lines are long, at time, but workers are fast and efficient. The phone lines in the office are also ringing non-stop as the deadline quickly approaches. "We have been very busy," said Dallas County Elections Administrator Toni Pippins-Poole.
The team in the Dallas County Elections Office has been working 12-hour days. They’ve been working on weekends in anticipation of the upcoming deadline. Poole says her office has also brought in 20 additional temporary employees to help process the record number of registration forms. "We're up about 100,000 more registered voters than we were for the last gubernatorial election,” Pippins-Poole explained. “We're up 50,000 more from the presidential election in 2016."
Shiquita Adams was among the many people registering to vote on Monday. She brought her family in to fill out the forms. "You need to vote,” Adams said. “It's time for change."
Some voters say they are not surprised hearing a record number of people are registering for the important mid-term elections.
“The current political climate has galvanized people to go out there and make their voices heard. So, that's why I think that's probably the reason for the record number of people coming out," Richard Burnett said.
The Secretary of State’s office is dealing with a backlog of applications, in addition to its website having issues over the weekend. Dallas County continues waiting on updates from the state on how many voter cards to expect, as those forms trickle in before Tuesday’s deadline.
Pippins-Poole says there are many people who are contacting the Elections Office to confirm they are registered to vote for the November 6 general election. She stresses anyone trying to register to vote must make sure their forms are post-marked by October 9.
If you can’t make it into the Elections Office by Tuesday’s deadline, there are options. Elections staffers say you could fax your application into the office, by October 9. You will have 4 days to bring that signed application to the Elections Office.