From the inbox:
Thank you Harris County Voter Registration Division and Harris County Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrars for your passion, dedication, and commitment in registering eligible voters!
Current number registered: 2,291,037 Voters registered in 2017: 67,753 Voters registered in 2018: 41,369
That was from a couple of weeks ago, just before the registration challenge debacle. The registration deadline for this November is October 9, so there’s still time for that number to increase. Here’s how it looks over the past few cycles:
Year Registered Change
==========================
2002 1,875,777
2004 1,876,296 521
2006 1,902,822 25,526
2008 1,892,656 -10,166
2010 1,917,534 24,978
2012 1,942,566 25,032
2014 2,044,361 101,795
2016 2,182,980 138,619
2018 2,291,037 108,057
It’s crazy that in the first ten years of this century, the total number of registered voters in the county only increased by a net of 67K. In the next six years after that, up 350K and counting. Having a Tax Assessor that thought registering voters was more important than purging them sure makes a difference, doesn’t it? To be clear, while Ann Harris Bennett gets the credit for this cycle, Mike Sullivan was in the office for the 2014 and 2016 periods, so he gets his props as well.
As you know, I believe the increases in registration are directly related to the improved Democratic performance in 2016, and key to our chances this year. So to everyone who’s out there registering people, I say “thanks”, and “keep up the good work”. The numbers tell the story.
I agree with Kuff, newly registered voters will generally be more favorable to Dems.