Find Out Where To Vote Across Texas During Early Voting Period

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Early voting began on Monday throughout Texas, unleashing a stampede of registered voters to their election sites amid intense interest in the mid-terms and against a backdrop of record-breaking registration levels.

The early voting period runs through Nov. 2, ahead of the important Nov. 6 election day.

Throughout the political spectrum, this year's elections are sure to be truly consequential. Some voters are hoping for a blue wave to ensure better checks and balances against ironclad Republican control of both chambers of Congress, and a referendum against Donald Trump. More conservative-minded voters like things just the way they are, viewing the Trump era as the game-changer for which they had long yearned.
Yet regardless of political stripes, voters are energized.

In Texas, the embodiment of that clash of ideologies is seen in the race between U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Houston and his Democratic challenger, Beto O' Rourke, a congressman from El Paso, Texas. The political contest has proved to be implausibly competitive in a state that's long been largely red, but with signs of turning at least purple if not blue. While the two are seen as the most viable senatorial candidates, Neal M. Dikeman also is vying for the seat for the Libertarian party.

But aside from political contests with national implications, voters also will have their say on a numberof state and local elections — dozens of them — including the race for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, commissioner of agriculture and more. A handful of state Supreme Court seats are up for grabs, as are a number of district judge positions.

At a more granular level, there are elections across the state on a number of bond referendums to fund improvements to roads and facilities, school district trustee elections, city council races and the like.

So where can you vote? Those who registered to vote before the early October deadline can cast their ballots at sites throughout their region. You can find early voting locations by visiting VoteTexas.gov, powered by the Texas Secretary of State, using their search site Am I Registered? This portal was populated with voting sites a few days before early voting began on Monday, Oct. 22. Or, you may want to contact the Early Voting Clerk for State and County Elections in your county.

For a list of acceptable forms of identification required to vote in Texas, click here.

Bear in mind that Texas was recently forced by courts to ease up on what was viewed as arguably the most draconian set of Voter ID requirements in the nation. As a result of those court decisions, voters not possessing or who cannot reasonably obtain one of the acceptable forms of identification can fill out a declaration at the polls describing a reasonable impediment to obtaining it and then simply show a copy or original of one of the following supporting forms of ID:

• Current utility bill.
• A government document showing your name and an address, including your voter registration certificate.
• Bank statement.
• Government check.
• Paycheck.
• A certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or (b) a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law which establishes your identity (which may include a foreign birth document).

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