👋🏾 @by_jmiller -- cool article, but it's missing one very large piece: voter suppression that occurs before people can even get registered. 1/
Texas is one of the only states that has criminalized the voter registration process. A citizen wanting to register voters has to get deputized before they can even pick up a voter registration form. 2/
How do you get deputized, you ask? you have to attend a class during a time set by the county -- and surprise! they aren't often. Not to mention that all 254 counties get to make up their own rules about being deputized. 3/
So say you're deputized in Bexar county and want to register a person at our beloved Texas State Fair -- who's from, let's say Travis county... SORRY, you can't register them because you're not deputized in Travis County. 4/
And that's not all -- your certification from your county(ies) expires at the end of every 👏🏾even 👏🏾 numbered 👏🏾 year 5/
We are proud to have helped get 6,937 people deputized to register voters across the state and we will continue to run the largest (and one of the few) organizations laser-focused on making sure every.single.Texan has a voice in our elections. 6/
And while @BGTX "has only registered about 150,000 new voters" -- we've made institutional changes. 7/
BGTX was the first group to endorse @voteannbennett -- a candidate who, now elected, has the opportunity to help register an additional 800,000 new voters through her office in Harris County alone. 8/
So, before you use the word "only," take a look into the absurd hoops that the Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrar process requires of anyone looking to register voters. And maybe give us a 📞 the next time you want to talk about voter registration. *drops mic*
