Voter Registration: The Key to Growing Our Base – Become a Volunteer Deputy Registrar

There are plenty of ways to help, but becoming a Volunteer Deputy Registrar is one of the best—you can personally register new voters in Hays County. In real time. On the spot.

There’s a big difference between being a Volunteer Deputy Registrar and simply handing potential voters registration applications and hoping they complete them and send them in. As a VDR, you actually register the voter—you provide the form and the pen, the voter completes the form and hands it back to you. You, in turn, personally deliver the completed form to the Elections Office. So you know you’ve closed the loop and the voter is registered. The effective date of the registration is the day the voter completes the form and returns it to you.

Being a Volunteer Deputy Registrar can make all the difference in the world to a voter registration drive, since you’ll know, right then and there, how many people you’ve registered and who they are.

How do you sign up? It’s easy! You simply visit the Hays County Elections Office, during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm (no appointment necessary), to take the VDR exam.

The folks at the Elections Office will set you up with VDR guide and the exam—which is an open-book test. That means you can refer to the VDR guide as you answer the test questions. Once you pass the exam, you’ll receive a Hays County VDR certificate and voter registration applications. Right there. No waiting. You’ll be ready to go out and register new voters as soon as you walk out the door.

What are the qualifications?

Volunteer Deputy Registrars must:

• Be at least 18 years old;
• Be a United States citizens;
• Not have been determined by a final judgment of a court exercising probate jurisdiction to be
  1. Totally mentally incapacitated, or
  2. Partially mentally incapacitated without the right to vote;
• Never have been convicted of failing to deliver a voter application to a voter registrar;
• Not have been finally convicted of a felony, or, if convicted, must have:
  1. Fully discharged the sentence, including any term of incarceration, parole, or supervision, or completed a period of probation ordered by any court, or
  2. Been pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disability to vote;
• Not have been finally convicted of identity theft under Section 32.51 of the Penal Code; and
• Be a resident of the State of Texas.

That’s it. Appointment as Volunteer Deputy Registrar is good for up to two years. Appointments made any time since the beginning of this year cover the period from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2024. So your appointment will take you through the critical 2024 election cycle.

Oh—and this is important—if you were appointed a Volunteer Deputy Registrar prior to 2023, your appointment expired on December 31, 2023. You’ll have to apply and take the examination again to be reappointed for the current election cycle.