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Thursday night, and Texas Metro News hosted a digital town hall to advise voters about how to make their vote count in the 2020 election.
Nic Garcia, Dallas County reporter for The News and Ashley Moss of Texas Metro News were joined by Robert Heard, Dallas County deputy elections administrator; Eric Cedillo, a Dallas attorney and SMU law professor; June Jenkins, Collin County NAACP president; Heider Garcia, Tarrant County elections administrator; J.J. Koch, Dallas County Commissioner; and James Barragan, Austin bureau correspondent of The News to answer voters’ questions.
Here are the five takeaways from the town hall.
Registration
You must register to vote by Monday. In order to register, you must be a U.S. citizen, resident of the county you’re registering in, at least 17 years and 10 months old and you will be 18 years old on Election Day, not a convicted felon (but you may be eligible if you have completed your probation or sentence), and you have not been declared mentally incapacitated or partiall mentally incapacitated to vote by a court. Find more information here.
You can register at your county elections office, mail an application to your registrar’s office, or give the application to a deputized registrar. If you mail your registration, make sure it is postmarked by Monday. Garcia recommended asking the post office worker to postmark the envelope in front of you to be sure it is postmarked on or before Monday.
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Mail ballots
In Texas, in order to be eligible to vote by mail, you must be 65 years of age or older, be sick or disabled, be out of the county on Election Day, or be confined in jail and not finally convicted of a felony. In order to be eligible for an absentee ballot, you must be out of the country on Election Day. If you are eligible, elections officials recommend you request you request your ballot early and turn it in early.
You are also allowed to drop off your mail-in ballot, but Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott restricted mail-in ballot to one drop-off location per county. If you want to hand-deliver your ballot, go to your county’s elections website.
Early Voting
Early voting is slated to start Oct. 13. The Texas Secretary of State’s website lists the different forms of identification that are acceptable at polling locations. These forms of identification are Texas Driver License issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS, Texas Personal Identification Card issued by DPS, Texas Handgun License issued by DPS, United States Military Identification Card containing your photograph. United States Citizenship Certificate containing your photograph, United States Passport (book or card).
If you are unable to obtain these forms of identification and you are otherwise eligible to vote, you may still be able to vote if you have a government document that shows your name and an address, including your voter registration certificate, current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or a certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law which establishes your identity (which can be from a foreign country).
Elections officers in Dallas and Tarrant counties said they are confident they will have enough poll workers for the election, but they are always open to new volunteers — especially bilingual ones.
Election Day
If you are not sure where you can vote on Election Day, go to your county’s website. Dallas, Tarrant and Collin County all use vote centers, which means you can vote at any vote center in those counties throughout early boting and on Election Day.
Elections officials said they are doing everything to keep polling places safe, meaning poll workers will be wearing masks, and hand sanitizing stations will be accessible. Voters are not required to wear a mask, but they are encouraged to do so for the safety and comfort of their fellow voters. Elections officials recommend you print out and fill out your sample ballot prior to entering the location, so you can be in and out as soon as possible. If you are in line by 7 p.m. on Election Day, you will be allowed to vote.
Curbside voting options are available at any location, and all you have to do is ask to be able to vote that way.
After Election Day
Results will be reported on Election Night of all of the ballots the elections department has received up to that point, said Garcia. Elections departments are mandated to post every vote they have counted on Election Night by Tas law.
It is still possible that the results of a race will change as mail-in ballots come in, he said, but every vote that has been received will be counted by Election Day.