Lubbock Left

As Early Voting for the Primaries draws near, it’s time for each of us to make sure that we are registered within the political subdivision in which we intend to vote. Are you a college student from out of town? You can register to vote here in Lubbock and make a local impact, or, if you have a favorite candidate to support at home, request an absentee ballot from your home county.

Complicating matters for all of us — not just college students who move — is the TEAM System maintained by the Texas Secretary of State’s Office. Currently each voter in Texas has a unique registration number — a VUID number — which augments and will replace the voter’s legacy, county-unique certificate number. This by itself is not a problem. However, college students, professionals who have lived and worked in different cities, and people who just plain moved and registered in their new county are all at risk of disappearing from the voter list when they show up to vote.

The problem is one left over from when the TEAM database was first built last year. If the same person is registered in two counties, they are merged into one registration and one of the old registrations is dropped. The general rule that was followed in this merging process was to drop the older registration. This choice makes sense at the surface, but it’s certainly not accurate all the time. For example, a college student is registered in their home county, registers in their college county, and then moves back home after school to start a career. In this case, the TEAM merge process would keep their college registration and drop their home registration, frustrating the voter as they show up at the polls to vote only to find out that they are no longer registered like they thought they were.

This merge was an unfortunate step of creating the TEAM database, and we are lucky it’s a one-time problem that’s getting fixed as voters come forward. Other, chronic problems with voter registrations — voters with hard-to-deliver mail addresses who continually get dropped or put on suspense, for example — will be with us longer.

So, the thing to do is contact the Lubbock County Office of Elections and say “I want to make sure that my voter registration is current.” If you haven’t received a new ORANGE voter card by now, that is an extra strong indicator that you need to contact:

Dorothy Kennedy
Elections Adminstrator
1308 Crickets Avenue
P.O. Box 10536
Lubbock, TX 79408

Hours of Operation: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Phone: (806) 775-1339
Alt. Phone: (806) 775-1338
Fax: (806) 775-1380
Email: otelubbock@co.lubbock.tx.us

(found on http://www.co.lubbock.tx.us/Elec%20Admin/Elections%20Administrator.htm )

The deadline for registering to vote (including changing your address to be current!) is February 4. This coming week is the time to take care of this important chore!