Volunteer Deputy Registrars

Volunteer Deputy Registrars (“VDRs”) are entrusted with the responsibility of officially registering voters in the State of Texas. VDRs are appointed by county voter registrars and charged with helping increase voter registration in the state.

Qualifications

To be appointed a volunteer deputy registrar, a person must:

be at least 18 years old;
be a United States citizen;
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 registration 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.

How to Become a Volunteer Deputy Registrar

Contact the voter registrar in your county.
The voter registrar will provide you with information about how training will be offered and completed.
Upon satisfactorily completing training and examination, if required, the voter registrar will appoint you as a volunteer deputy registrar and advise you of any county-specific procedures for processing voter registration applications and that the only requirements for voter registration are those prescribed by state law or by the Secretary of State.
The voter registrar will issue you a certificate of appointment and give you a receipt book or voter registration applications with a tear off receipt.
You may not receive another person's voter registration application until you have completed the training developed or approved by the Secretary of State.

Role of a Volunteer Deputy Registrar

Checklist

Before you get started, be sure you have the following:

A certificate of appointment;
A sufficient number of voter registration applications;
A pen;
A receipt book (unless the county is using the Voter Registration Application for Use by VDR with the tear away receipt); and
This guide.

Distributing and Accepting Applications

You may distribute and accept a voter registration application from any resident of the county who:

is a citizen of the United States;
is at least 17 years and 10 months old to register, and must be 18 years of age by Election Day;
has not been finally convicted of a felony, or if a felon, must have completed all of the punishment, including any term of incarceration, parole, supervision, or period of probation, or must have been pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disability to vote; and
must not have been determined by a final judgment of a court exercising probate jurisdiction to be totally mentally incapacitated or partially mentally incapacitated without the right to vote.

You may also distribute and accept applications from current registered voters who wish to change or correct information on their voter registration certificate (such as name or address) by checking the “change” box on the application.

Your county voter registrar should provide you with applications containing the county return address. If your county voter registrar does not have enough applications to provide to you, you may print blank applications for volunteer deputy registrars from the Secretary of State’s website. These applications should only be distributed to applicants residing in the county. Should you receive generic applications containing the Secretary of State’s return address, you can distribute to anyone residing in any county; however, you can only accept applications from those registering within the county in which you were appointed.

Assisting Applicants

You may help a person fill out the application if he/she cannot read or has a physical disability.
If an applicant cannot sign his/her name on the application, the applicant may make a mark on the signature line. Print the name of the applicant beside the mark. If the applicant cannot make a mark, please state that fact on the application and print the applicant’s name. Sign and print your name, and provide your residence address as the witness.
You may allow another registered voter (or anyone who has submitted a registration application) to fill out and sign an application for his/her spouse, parent or child. That person must sign the application as “agent” and state the relationship to the applicant on the application. The “agent” must have the permission of the applicant to do this.

Reviewing the Applications

While the applicant is still in your presence, you must review the application for completeness. The following sections of the voter registration application must be completed:

Section 1: Applicant must select why they are submitting the application (new application, change of current information, or request for replacement). Applicant must also answer citizenship and age questions;
Section 2: Full name, including any middle, maiden, or former name;
Section 3: Residence address must be a street address or a description of the location of the residence;
Section 4: Valid mailing address, if mail can't be delivered to the residence address;
Section 5: City and County of Former Residence in Texas;
Section 6: Date of birth, including month, day, and year;
Section 9: Texas Driver’s License No., Texas Personal I.D. No., or last 4 digits of social security number. If the applicant hasn’t been issued any of these items, he or she must check the box in this section affirming this statement; and
Section 10: Signature of applicant and date of signing. Be sure the applicant has read the statements that he/she is signing regarding qualifications to register and if an agent is registering for an applicant, be sure the agent provides his/her relationship to the applicant.

You CANNOT:

determine if the applicant is actually qualified to register to vote or
make the applicant provide his/her gender or telephone number.

Registration Receipt

For each completed voter registration application, fill out a receipt in duplicate and give each applicant the original receipt. The duplicate receipts must be delivered to the voter registrar along with the applications. You may wish to keep copies of the receipts for your records. You should not keep copies of the completed voter registration applications because these documents contain information that is confidential by law.

Delivery of Applications and Receipts

You must deliver completed registration applications and receipts in person to the voter registrar no later than 5:00 p.m. of the 5th day after the date you receive them. FAILURE TO DELIVER AN APPLICATION IN A TIMELY MANNER IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.

NOTE: You MUST deliver an application submitted after the 34th day before the date of an election and on or before the last day for a person to timely submit a registration application for that election to the county voter registrar not later than 5:00 pm of the next regular business day after the date to timely submit a registration application for that election. (Sec. 13.042)(c)).

Information & Resource Materials

The Elections Division has created the resources below specifically for volunteer deputy registrars. For additional information, please contact your County Voter Registrar.