Millions of Texas voters in "suspense" are at risk of being removed from the voter rolls later this year.
Being in suspense is sort of like being in limbo between being on the voter rolls or off the rolls altogether.
In Travis County, 139,275 voters are on the list of suspended voters, according to the county tax assessor-collector. That's out of around 886,000 registered voters in 2022.
If you're in Travis County, you can check your status at VoteTravis.com. And if you're one of those suspended voters, you may very well have questions. Let's get to 'em.
What does being in 'suspense' mean?
Some recent messaging from Gov. Greg Abbott may lead you to believe you're in violation of state law if you're a suspended voter. You're not.
Basically, it means you've ghosted the county's election officials. In Travis County, that's Bruce Elfant, the county tax assessor-collector.
Elfant's office sends out voter registration checks every two years. When folks don't answer them, they go onto the suspended voters list.
"People move. They pass away. The roommate doesn't send the card back," Elfant said. "There are a lot of reasons that the card either comes back or doesn't come back to us."
More often than not in Travis County, it's the moving. We are, as Elfant puts it, "a mobile community."
"People are moving a lot and they're not always remembering to update their voter registration," he said. "It’s just not the most important thing going on in their lives. It should be.”
And that's borne out in the county's data. Certain ZIP codes – like 78705, the area just west of UT Austin's campus, and 78704 in Central Austin – have higher numbers of suspended voters. They also have a higher concentration of apartment complexes and all that churn from folks moving in and out.
Can I vote?
You can.
If you don't correct your status before the Oct. 7 registration deadline, you'll need to fill out a provisional ballot and provide proof of address and/or ID at the polls.
But if you're on the suspended list and you don't vote in this election, you'll get kicked off the books during what the state calls a "voter purge."
Every four years, the state clears out folks on the suspended list who've died or left the county or state. That purge will start at the end of the year.
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