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Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector Bruce Elfant said Thursday his office has counted 49,800 new voter registrations this year, but because they are behind in processing, he expects the number to go well above 50,000. He said registrations are high for a midterm election year. He noted that in 2012, Travis County had 635,000 registered voters. After the election, the office purged about 40,000 of those. “This is the fastest we’ve dug out (from a purge),” Elfant said, noting that he expected considerably more residents to register before the Oct. 6 deadline. Anyone who needs information on how to register or a registration form can go to the county website and download the form.

Mark Richardson is a multimedia journalist, editor and writer who has worked in digital, print and broadcast media for three decades. He is a nationally recognized editor and reporter who has covered government,...