Vote

By John C. Mortiz, USA Today Network Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — Texas, which consistently ranks near the bottom of the heap when it comes to voter participation, has topped the 15 million mark in registered voters for the first time in its history.

Secretary of State Carlos Cascos said that not only has the number of registered voters grown by nearly 1.5 million since the 2012 election cycle, the percentage of the voting-age population that has registered has also gone up as well — from 75 percent to 78 percent.

“Registration is just the first step,” Cascos said Tuesday in a news release. “I encourage Texans to prepare now for this fall’s election.”

The deadline to register for the Nov. 8 elections was Tuesday. Early voting begins Oct. 24.

The spike in voter registration ahead of the presidential elections occurred largely in the past seven months, according to figures provided by Cascos’ office. From Election Day 2012 until this year’s March primaries, the voter registration rolls grew by about 590,000.

But from the primaries until registration closed this week, the rolls swelled by 777,000.

In 2012, Texas ranked 48th among the states and the District of Columbia in voter turnout. That represented a drop in 2008 when Texas came in 47th, according to a study by nonprofitvote.org.

The secretary of state’s office said the 2008 turnout of eligible voters was 45.55 percent. Four years later, the percentage declined to 43.7 percent.

For more on the election process in Texas, visit VoteTexas.gov

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