Effective, March 9, 2012 training is now Mandatory for anyone who is interested in becoming a new or renewal Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrar. That means they MUST attend training before they can become a deputy voter registrar. If you have any questions, please contact Marty Morrison, the Volunteer Deputy Coordinator, at 713-274-8177 or Suzanne Testa, 713-274-8009.

This requirement became effective when the law requiring training for volunteer deputy voter registrars was pre-cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Tax Office will hold many more training sessions this year. (Prior to the training becoming mandatory, the Tax Office regularly held voluntary several training sessions and offered training online.)

Persons deputized as Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrars in 2011 or on or before March 12 in 2012 are “grandfathered” and do not have to attend training.

• Wednesday, June 20, 2012 – TWO training sessions
  The first is from 2-4 p.m. in the first-floor conference room, County Administration Building, 1001 Preston, Houston, TX 77002. (Street parking is not free until after 6 p.m. The County Administration Building is adjacent to Metro rail stations on Main Street and is close to stops for numerous bus routes.)
  The second begins at 6:30 p.m. in the first-floor conference room, County Administration Building, 1001 Preston, Houston, TX 77002. (Street parking is free after 6 p.m. The County Administration Building is adjacent to Metro rail stations on Main Street and is close to stops for numerous bus routes.)
• Friday, July 13, 2012 from 2-4 p.m. in the first-floor conference room, County Administration Building, 1001 Preston, Houston, TX 77002. (Street parking is not free until after 6 p.m. The County Administration Building is adjacent to Metro rail stations on Main Street and is close to stops for numerous bus routes.)
• Friday, August 10, 2012 from 2-4 p.m. in the first-floor conference room, County Administration Building, 1001 Preston, Houston, TX 77002. (Street parking is not free until after 6 p.m. The County Administration Building is adjacent to Metro rail stations on Main Street and is close to stops for numerous bus routes.)

Please bring a pen and notebook to the training session.

You can visit this website for the dates, times and places of additional training sessions.

Volunteer Deputy Voter registrar appointments made during 2012 expire at the end of the year. By law, all registrar appointments expire on Dec. 31 of even-numbered years.

If you need more information, please e-mail Marty Morrison at Marty.Morrison@tax.hctx.net or call her at 713-274-8177 or Suzanne Testa at Suzanne.Testa@tax.hctx.net or 713-274-8009.

• Finally convicted of a felony or, if a felon, fully discharged of sentence, including any term of incarceration, parole, supervision, completed period of probation, or have been pardoned (Texas Election Code, §13.031(d)). A person is not considered to have been fully convicted of an offense if the person’s adjudication of guilt was deferred (H.B. 1226, 82nd Leg.).
• Finally convicted of an identity theft offense (Texas Penal Code, § 32.51).
• Finally convicted of a Class A misdemeanor relating to performance-based compensation for voter registration (Texas Election Code, §13.008).

Other rules for eligibility are that you must be 18 years of age, a citizen of the United States, a resident of Texas and have not have been determined by final judgment of a court exercising probate jurisdiction to be totally mentally incapacitated or partially mentally incapacitated without the right to vote.