By Mike Terrell
No one in the state of Texas is registered to vote as of Nov. 5 when the new voter registration law went into effect. Anyone registered before that date is no longer registered.
According to political science instructor, Lester Meredith, the original voter registration law stated that all Texas voters must reregister every year and that a person could only register during certain months of the year. Meredith said that the old law was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court and set automatic registration until another voter registration law could be passed by the Texas legislature.
Under automatic registration a voter did not have to register as long as he voted regularly. Under the new law voters must reregister every two years, but Meredith says that this law is already being challenged as unconstitutional.
Meredith stated that since the new law is now in effect, the county tax assessor-collector will start sending out new registration cards to voters that were registered under the old law, but, if a person does not receive a card by Feb. 1, he or she should go by the tax assessor-collector’s office and fill out a card.
Meredith urged that all students make sure that they are registered at least 30 days before the next election. He noted that the party primaries and the city elections are slated this spring plus the fact that 1976 is a presidential election year.