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More than 137,000 people registered to vote in McLennan County

Posted at 7:00 PM, Sep 25, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-25 23:00:29-04

It's National Voter Registration Day and the movement has reached McLennan County.

Dozens of volunteers are pushing voter registration forms left and right to get more people to the polls. Different organizations set up shop at places like MCC, Baylor and Caritas of Waco to speak with potential voters.

More than 137,000 people are already registered to vote in McLennan County. 

Kathy Van Wolfe, the election administrator for McLennan County, said this is the highest amount of voters she's seen in years, but only a fraction of them will actually show up on election day.

"This type of election we see about 30 to 35 percent turnout," Van Wolfe said. "The highest turnout we've seen in the past is during presidential and we see about a 60 percent turnout."

Democratic and Republican leaders are also on the same page. They've spent months working to convince the community that just a single vote can make a difference. 

"If you don't register to vote and you don't vote, then that age-old thing we've heard about 'you really can't complain' is really true," said Mary Duty, chairwoman for the McLennan County Democratic Party.

"To register to vote underguards our freedoms that we have because the way to keep those freedoms is to elect people who protect those freedoms," said Jon Ker, chairman of the Republican Party of McLennan County.

In Bell County, 193,207 residents are registered to vote. 

During the 2016 presidential election, the total number of registered voters was 187,166. There was a 51 percent turn out.

The County has seen higher numbers of voters requesting absentee ballots this year. It is also expected to be a higher voter turn out than normal.

If you missed filling out a registration form today, you have until Oct. 9 to sign up to vote for the upcoming election in November.

To find out where you can pick up an application, click here

To confirm your voter registration status, you can visit the Vote Texas website here.

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