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TO: Texas High School Principals
FROM: Keith Ingram, Director of Elections
SUBJECT: Registering Your Eligible Students to Vote
DATE: September 1, 2022
Dear High School Principal:
Thank you for your service to the community as a high school principal. As we do every year, we’re reminding you that as a high school principal, it is your duty to provide eligible high school students with the opportunity to register to vote under Section 13.046(a) of the Texas Election Code. This section of the Code designates you as a high school deputy voter registrar. You accomplish this task by distributing voter registration forms at least twice during the school year.
The voter registration deadline for the November 8, 2022 General Election is Tuesday, October 11, 2022.
Our office sends you this letter twice a year at the beginning of each semester. Please note that Texas Administrative Code, Title 1, Rule 81.7, entitled “Directive for High School Deputy Registrars” (“Rule 81.7”) provides that voter registration forms must be distributed “during the final month of each semester”; however, in light of the above-referenced voter registration deadline for the November 8, 2022 General Election, we also encourage you to distribute and collect voter registration applications in time for the students to register on or before October 11, 2022. In fact, you may want to establish a system where, as students in your school turn 18, you proactively offer them the opportunity to register to vote.
Please note that Section 13.046(a) of the Texas Election Code applies the requirements in Sections 13.039, 13.041, and 13.042 of the Texas Election Code, which would otherwise only apply to volunteer deputy registrars, to high school deputy registrars. In addition, Rule 81.7 describes procedures relating to your duties as a high school voter deputy registrar. Please review the attached copies of Sections 13.039, 13.041, 13.042, and 13.046 of the Texas Election Code, as well as Rule 81.7, regarding your obligations as a high school deputy registrar. We have also attached for you an FAQ document that should answer some of the common questions regarding this law and procedure.
Please also review the following helpful information to assist you in registering voters:
Who Can Register
- Students that are 17 years, 10 months of age may register, and can vote in the November 8, 2022 General Election if they will be 18 years of age on Election Day.
- Employees of your high school can also register.
Where to Get Applications
NOTE: We strongly suggest you use the enclosed order form or the online order form referenced above to acquire the voter registrations applications.
Applications are also available from your county voter registrar. You can access voter registration applications from your county voter registrar, but it would be helpful for tracking purposes if you write “H.S. 18” on them when returning the completed applications to the voter registrar.
NOTE: Because the forms available from your county voter registrar and the online applications accessible by individuals are not coded for use by high school deputy registrars, we encourage you to order and distribute the specially coded applications from our office [English; Spanish] via the enclosed order form or the online order form so that we can more accurately track students being registered through the High School Deputy Registrar program. With respect to any forms you distribute or to which you refer students and employees (i.e. specially coded, county, or online), you must provide students and employees with a copy of the required notice referenced below. You are permitted to collect completed specially coded forms, county forms, and printed completed online forms from applicants and turn them in the ways provided below.
Providing Notice to Voter
How to Return Completed Applications
- After the individuals complete their voter registration application, they can then return the completed form to you or your designated representative (as defined in Rule 81.7(c)(2)), or a volunteer deputy registrar, for delivery to the local county voter registrar in the county in which the individual resides. Individuals can also drop the application in the mail or return the completed form in person to the voter registrar of the county in which they reside. If you need the address for a county’s voter registrar, they are located on our website at http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/votregduties.shtml. Please consult section (d)(3) of the attached Rule 81.7 and the attached FAQs for deadlines relating to the return of completed applications.
Please be advised that when you have someone’s competed registration application in your possession, in a real sense, you are holding their right to vote. Accordingly, you need to make sure that the application is returned to the voter registrar within the timelines set by law. Failure to do so is a criminal offense.
Early Voting and Voting Information
Finally, for a one-stop resource for voter information, please visit www.VoteTexas.gov. The first day of Early Voting for the November 8, 2022 General Election is Monday, October 24, 2022 and the last day is Friday, November 4, 2022.
Thank you in advance for your commitment to this most important mission. If you have any questions about the voter registration application or this process, please email our office at elections@sos.texas.gov or contact us by phone at 800-252-VOTE (8683).
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