TEXAS – Monday was the deadline to register to vote in Texas, and if you have not done so, here are some things you need to know.
- Next general election is November 5
- Can register up to two months before your 18th birthday
The first thing you need to do is make sure you’re qualified to vote. You must be a U.S. citizen, a Texas resident, be 18 years old, and you cannot have been convicted of a felony nor have been declared by a court to be unfit to vote.
Note: If you’re a teenager looking to register to vote, you can register up to two months before your 18th birthday as long as you’ll be 18 by Election Day.
If you qualify, the next thing you want to do is check and make sure you aren’t already registered. You can do that by clicking here and entering some information like your name, county of residence, ZIP code, and birthdate.
If you’ve move within your county recently and haven’t already updated, you can enter your old ZIP code to find your information and then click on a link to update your address. And if you’ve moved to a new county, you’ll have to start from scratch.
Next you must fill out an application. There are several ways to do this, the first is when you apply or renew your driver’s license. You can also fill out the application by visiting your county Voter Registrar’s office or by filling it out online. If you do it this way, once completed, you need to print, sign, and mail it to your county Voter Registrar.
Make sure you double check that you are registering in your county of residence.
After the application is sent off and processed, you will receive a registration certificate in the mail.
To vote in Texas, you must have a Texas driver's license number, personal identification number, or be able to provide the last four digits of your Social Security number. If you don’t have any of these but you’re still looking to vote, click here to find out what you can do.
The Travis County Clerk’s office is holding at least 10 events dubbed “Meet the New Voting System.” The biggest change with this system is the machine will print out a hard-paper copy of a ballot for the voter to verify before dropping it in the ballot box. To find an event near you, visit the Travis County Clerk’s website.
The next Texas general election is November 5. Keep with Spectrum News for the latest information about what’s happening in Texas and National politics as we inch closer to Decision 2020.