Wanting to vote in the Texas primary election? Not sure who to vote for, where to go, or don’t know if you’re registered? Here are a few tips to help you out.
Candidates:
You can research and compare candidates side by side at Vote411.org. You can also look at each candidates’ website. Vote411 also show the Texas propositions that will be on each ballot.
Voting Registration:
You can check to see if you are registered at the Texas Secretary of State’s website. Just fill in your information. Let’s say you are going to school in a different county or a different state than where you are from, you can change your registration to certain counties at the Texas Secretary of State’s website.
If you are not registered, unfortunately the date has passed to register for this election and you won’t be able to cast your ballot. If you want to vote for future elections, you can’t register online in Texas. You can register in person or mail your registration application to your country’s registrar.
Early Voting:
Early voting is open from Feb. 20 through March 2. Many voting place in Texas are open on the weekends.
Places to Vote:
You can also use the Texas Secretary of State’s website to look up where you need to vote on early dates and on election day. Here are a few places for early day voting around Denton, Texas
And here are a few places to vote in Denton, Texas on March 6th:
Form of ID to bring:
The approved IDs you can bring are
- Driver’s license issued by the Texas DPS
- Texas election identification certificate
- Texas personal identification card
- Texas license to carry a handgun
- U.S. military ID card that includes a personal photo
- U.S. citizenship certificate that includes a personal photo
- U.S. passport
If you don’t have any those and cannot “reasonably obtain” them, you can still vote if you sign a form, swearing that you have a “reasonable impediment” from obtaining appropriate identification, according to The Texas Tribune.
You will also have to present one of these IDs:
- Valid voter registration certificate
- Certified birth certificate
- Copy or original of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other document that shows the voter’s name and address (any government document that contains a voter’s photo must be an original)
A “reasonable impediment” can include a lack of transportation, disability or illness, family responsibilities or lost or stolen identification, among other things. And election judges may not question a voter about the reasonableness of a claimed impediment. The “reasonable impediment” declaration forms will be available at each polling location. Voters are not expected to fill them out ahead of time, according to Texas Tribune.