TEXAS — The deadline to register to vote in time for the March 1 primary in Texas is Jan. 31, and for some people the process may now be a bit harder.

What You Need To Know

  • According to reports, the Texas Secretary of State’s office says supply chain issues are limiting the number of voter registration forms available

  • Specifically, the office has attributed the issue to the cost and scarcity of paper

  • The issue is affecting organizations dedicated to registering Texans to vote

  • The deadline to register to vote in time for the March 1 primary in Texas is Jan. 31

It was first reported by KUT Radio that the Texas Secretary of State’s office is struggling to get enough voter registration forms to groups whose mission is to help people register to vote.

According to the report, ongoing supply chain issues, the office claims, have led to a shortage of paper and have also increased the price.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Tuesday confirmed the report, saying that the Houston League of Women Voters told him that the Secretary of State’s office said a paper shortage would limit the number of registration forms available.

Turner didn’t take the news well.

“This is embarrassing, unacceptable and must immediately be addressed,” he said in a news release.

According to Turner, in past years the LWVH has prepared around 3,500 voter registration cards and information packets monthly to be distributed at naturalization events. This year, Turner said, the group was told by the Secretary of State’s office only 50 would be available.

“That is disgraceful. Fifty voter registration applications for a month worth of events, directly before the March 1st primary, in the 4th largest city in America,” Turner wrote.

This comes as Texas counties including Travis County have invalidated numerous applications for mail-in ballots in the wake of the passage of Senate Bill 1, which introduced sweeping, Republican-backed voting restrictions to the state.