Kudos to those who have been working on area voter registration drives.
Your efforts are bearing positive results.
Officials tell us 3,900 people have registered to vote in Denton County in the past six weeks and that nearly 1,000 of those signed up in the city of Denton.
That figure is more than twice the number who have registered in Lewisville and about three times the number of those who registered in Flower Mound and the Denton County precincts of Carrollton.
As might be expected, many of those who have registered in the past six weeks are age 25 or younger.
Voter registration drives that greeted students at the University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University may have helped boost the Denton numbers, and high-profile propositions on the Nov. 4 ballot are also generating interest.
In addition to a full slate of statewide candidates, the city of Denton has seven propositions on the ballot.
Two citizen initiatives, one to ban hydraulic fracturing and another to legalize liquor sales citywide, will go before voters.
Four separate propositions, if approved, would provide for $98.2 million in capital improvement bonds, the majority of which will go to repair city streets.
In addition, the city is asking voters to declare a small portion of the southwest side of North Lakes Park as surplus land. If voters agree, the city is expected to work with a local developer that wants to buy the land in exchange for cash and another small parcel on the northeast side of the park.
The county elections office has seen an increase in applications for deputy registrars in recent weeks, according to Kerry Martin, Denton County deputy elections administrator. Deputy registrars are screened and trained to work with people who might need help completing their voter registration cards.
According to UNT spokeswoman Kelley Reese, the Student Government Association has made voting and voter registration a priority in its work this year. The group also is working to get an early voting location on campus, she said.
Residents have until Oct. 6 to register to vote in the Nov. 4 election, and local drives to register new voters show no sign of letting up.
Several groups also told us that they plan to continue their voter registration efforts, and we encourage them to keep working.
The result should be increased interest in the upcoming election and a turnout that more accurately represents the will of the people.
We can debate which issues are driving voter registrations, but it really doesn’t matter. In our view, the goal is to encourage area residents to get involved and participate in the political process.
Interest in the Nov. 4 election appears to be high, and that’s a healthy sign.
Our system has suffered from anemic voter turnout for far too long.
Let’s work together to get people to the polls.
