Actions

Voter Palooza helps Bell County residents safely register to vote

Vote
Posted at 5:01 PM, Sep 19, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-20 12:41:57-04

TEMPLE, TX — The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg accelerated some community members' desire to vote in the upcoming presidential election.

A drive through, pop-up voter registration event helped some Bell County residents take that first step.

Dozens of volunteers across seven Central Texas locations worked an 8-hour day all for one common goal.

“This isn’t just for new voters to the area,” Irene Andrews, the head organizer of Voter Palooza said. “This is for everybody who needs to make sure they’re registered, make sure they’ve updated their information.”

Lexxi McBride, a Temple native and Voter Palooza volunteer, has seen first hand the divide in her community and believes it’ll take more than just protesting to have a voice.

“Voting is step one,” McBride said. “So I think it’s so important to empower people with their right to vote.”

According to VoteTexas.gov, just over half of Bell County residents voted in 2016. So, to make it easy, Voter Palooza volunteers hosted a drive-through event that helps residents get registered in less than five minutes.

“Some of them are unaware of how important and how much power voting gives them,” McBride said. “So they just don’t see it as important and so we do this to show people we care and this is how you get things done.”

The last day to register to vote is October 5th and workers say if you’re unsure about your voter status or had an address change like Donnell Clayton did, it’s important to square that away.

“Every vote counts, every voice should sing a song,” Donnell Clayton, a Temple resident who moved from Killeen said. “That’s why we should get out and support the community by voting.”

As early voting and voting by mail looms in the distance, McBride has one piece of advice.

”There’s a saying, 'don't talk about it, be about it,' and I believe that’s what the action is,” McBride said. “We can talk all day about our grievances but at the end of the day we have to have solutions, solutions for our problems, and voting is step one to solutions.”

In order to register you must be 18 years of age, or at least 17 and 10 months, a resident in the county that you’re registering to vote in and not a convicted felon.