For information on federal campaign contributions, please visit Open Secrets.

For information on state campaign contributions, please visit your state's resource.

Information on local, state and federal candidates and ballot measures may be available here.

To see a list of available races, visit the race index.

Ballot drop boxes are not allowed in Texas elections. To submit an absentee ballot in person, voters can hand-deliver their ballot to their county election official on Election Day only. Voters must show their ID and sign a form. Please contact your county election official for more information.

Early voting in Texas begins 17 days before Election Day (unless the 17th day is a national holiday or weekend; voting starts on the next business day). You may vote at any voting location in your county and weekend voting may be available. Please contact your county election administrator for more information.

The next election dates can be found here https://www.vote411.org/texas.

You can also contact your local Board of Elections for more information.

Mobile phones and tablets are prohibited in the voting booth, but the law allows you to take the Voters Guide with you. You can also use the interactive version here at VOTE411.org to print your choices to take with you. 

To be eligible to vote you must be:

• A U.S. citizen
• A resident of the county in which you intend to vote (See below for information if you have recently moved)
• At least 18 years old (you may register at 17 years and 10 months)
• Not convicted of a felony (unless your sentence is completed, including any probation or parole)
• Not declared mentally incompetent by a court of law
• Be registered 30 days before the election in which you plan to vote

If you have recently moved:

If you are already registered to vote in Texas and have moved or changed your name you may update your voter registration online.

You will need to have the following information to update your voter registration online:

• Current Texas Driver License or Texas ID Card
• Social Security Number
• Voter Registration Card VUID (Voter Unique Identifier).  The VUID  is on your voter registration card, or you can find it by checking your voter registration status here

If you live in the same county and missed the voter registration deadline, you may return to your old precinct to vote, but you will be required to complete a statement of residence confirming your new address in your new precinct.

Incarcerated Voters & Returning Citizens: 

In Texas, you lose your voting rights if you are convicted of a felony. Once someone has "fully discharged" their sentence including court-ordered supervision, probation, or parole, their right to vote is automatically restored. Pretrial detention and misdemeanor convictions do not restrict your voting rights in Texas. 

Voters without traditional residence: 

It is not mandatory for citizens to possess a "permanent home" for voter registration. A citizen can provide an alternative description of their residence, even if they are experiencing homelessness, as long as it enables the authorities to identify and assign a voting precinct to them. This precinct assignment ensures that the voter receives the appropriate ballot. The mailing address on their registration form can be a P.O. box, local shelter, advocacy organization, outreach center, or the home of someone who will accept mail for them. 

In order to register to vote you must include your state driver's license number or personal ID number issued by the State Department of public Safety on the application form. If you do not have either of these numbers you may provide the last four digits of your social security number on the form. If you don't have a social security number you must check the box stating you do not have this information

All citizens wishing to vote must be on the official list of registered voters. Voters may use one of seven forms of photo ID. IDs may be expired up to four years. Persons seventy years of age or older may use an expired ID. Acceptable forms of ID are:

• Driver license
• Texas Election Identification Certificate (EIC)
• Texas Personal Identification Card issued by DPS
• Texas license to carry a handgun issued by DPS
• US military identification card containing the person’s photograph
• US citizenship certificate containing the person’s photograph
• US passport (book or card)

Registered voters without photo ID, who cannot reasonably obtain one, may sign a form and present the original or a copy of one of the following documents with the voter’s name and address to vote a regular ballot:

• Voter registration card
• Certified birth certificate
• Current utility bill
• Bank statement
• Government check
• Paycheck
• Any other government document such as an out of state driver’s license or expired Texas driver’s license.

The form is called a “Voter’s Declaration of Reasonable Impediment or Difficulty.” The voter must mark on the form one of the following reasons for not providing a photo ID.*

• Lack of transportation
• Disability or illness
• Lack of birth certificate or other documents needed to obtain an acceptable form of photo ID
• Work schedule
• Family responsibilities
• Lost or stolen identification
• Acceptable form of photo ID applied for but not received

*ID address does not have to match the voter registration address.

A student ID is not a form of valid voter ID.

Once you sign the form and show your ID you will be able to cast a normal ballot at your polling place.

The name on your photo ID and the list of registered voters must match. If your name is substantially similar (if it's slightly different, is a common variation of your formal name, contains an initial, middle name or former last name or your first, middle or last name is in a different field on the ID than on the list of registered voters) you may still be able to vote a normal ballot. However, you must also submit an affidavit stating that you are the same person as is listed on the list of registered voters.

If you do not have any of these forms of ID, you can get an Election Identification Certificate to present at the polling place. To find out more about these certificates, click here.

Voters can call or text 844-338-8743 at any time to reach VoteRiders Voter ID Helpline

Official results are never available on Election Day. Election officials are working around the clock to count an unprecedented number of ballots, and it’s essential that they take the time to make sure every vote is counted.

Absentee ballots begin being counted four days before Election Day. Provisional ballots are counted between 7-13 days after the election.

With the increase in mail ballots counting will take more time. Voters should expect a delayed official count and that means the system is working. Official election results will be uploaded on Texas’ Secretary of State website as they become available. 

You are a Military or Overseas voter if you are in uniformed services, living overseas OR a spouse or dependent of a uniformed services voter. To get registered and vote, you can utilize Overseas Vote Foundation.

If you have additional questions about elections and voting overseas you can use our state specific elections official directory or contact the Overseas Vote Foundation.

Visit WorkElections to find localized information for becoming a poll worker in your area.

In order to be a poll worker in Texas:

• You must be a US Citizen
• Registered to vote in that county

Your county election officials may offer training and the Texas Secretary of State offers general online poll worker training.

For information about student elections clerks, aged 16 or older, visit your state resource.

To sign up, contact your local board of elections.

On election day the polling place will be open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.

See your county election office  for hours during early voting.

You can find your polling place by utilizing your state resource.

If you have further questions on your polling place location, please contact your county election official.

Texas is an “open primary” state. You can choose the party’s ballot you wish to vote. This decision does not register you with that party and it is a private decision.

In a primary election if a candidate does not with the majority of the votes (50%+1) there will be a primary runoff election scheduled for a few weeks after the primary election date. The runoff election will have the top two candidates with the most votes to ensure that one of them receives the majority of the voters.

If you have any questions about your state’s primary election, please contact your local election officials.

You are eligible to vote a provisional ballot if:

• You claim to be an eligible voter, but your name does not appear on the list of registered voters, and your registration cannot be determined by the voter registrar

• You have applied for a ballot by mail, but have not returned it or cancelled it.
• You vote during extended polling hours ordered by a state or federal court
• You do not present any acceptable form of identification (read below)

If you claim to be registered, but your name is not on the list of registered voters, the presiding judge shall call the voter registrar to determine if you are registered. If registration can be confirmed, and you can show identification, you may vote a regular ballot, or be directed to the correct precinct if you are in the wrong precinct. 

The provisional voting process requires the voter to visit the voter registrar’s office within six calendar days of the election with an acceptable ID in order for the provisional ballot to count. Provisional voters will receive a notice in the mail by the 10th day after the election letting them know if their provisional ballots were counted, and if they were not counted, the reasons why. 

If you are a voter with a disability:

You may vote by mail if you have a sickness or physical condition that prevents you from voting in person without needing personal assistance or injuring your health. Voters with disabilities may fill out an annual application to vote by mail.

You may apply with the county voter registrar for a permanent exemption for a photo ID.

Voters who are physically unable to enter the polling place may use curbside voting during early voting and on Election Day.

If you vote in person, the  notice of voting order allows a voter with a disability and their helper to request to move ahead of other voters in line.

Persons who assist voters 

• Persons who assist voters with a Vote by Mail application, Vote by Mail ballot, or in-person ballot must provide their relationship to the voter and address, and for the Vote by Mail ballot and in-person ballot, the person who assists must sign an oath and mark that they didn’t receive compensation. 
• Persons who drive 7 or more voters who qualify for curbside voting must sign a form.

If you are physically unable to mark your ballot, or cannot read the ballot, you are eligible for assistance. You may choose anyone as an assistant except your employer or an officer of your union, or an agent of either. The assistant must take an oath of assistance administered by an election official. The assistant may read the ballot to you and mark your ballot. If you do not choose your own assistant, two election officials (of different political parties in the General Election) may assist you. Poll watchers and inspectors can observe the assistance by election officials.

An interpreter may be used if you and the election official cannot speak the same language. The interpreter must be a registered voter of the county, must take the oath of assistance and may interpret for any number of voters. 

All Texas counties must provide one direct electronic voting machine (DRE) at each polling place for use by voters with visual disabilities, so they may cast their ballot without assistance. These machines are equipped with headphones and a keypad.

To find out more about how you may receive support while voting, click here.

For more information, you can utilize the American Association of People With Disabilities (AAPD) resource.

If you are a person with a disability and have questions about your voting rights, call Disability Rights Texas’ Voting Hotline at 1-888-796-VOTE (8683)

Voter Registration Deadline

You must be registered to vote 30 days before an upcoming election. There is no length of residency requirement before registering to vote in Texas. 

Check your voter registration status at Am I Registered? or with your county voter registrar. 

Who is eligible to register to vote in Texas

• A citizen of the United States,

• A resident of the county, and

• 17 years 10 months old (to vote you must be 18 years old by Election Day).

• You must not have been declared mentally incapacitated by a court of law.

• If you have been convicted of a felony, you may register to vote only after you have completed the punishment phase of your conviction, including any terms of incarceration, parole, supervision, or period of probation ordered by the court.

Ways to register to vote if you are a new Texas voter or new to the county:

• print and fill out  the  Voter Registration Form 
• pick one up at a library, government office, or high school
• Fill out, sign, stamp and mail in or turn in to your county election office.
• Call your county voter registrar  and ask for a voter registration application to be mailed to you. 

Volunteer Deputy Registrars are certified by each county to help voters  register to vote. 

If you are already registered to vote and you moved or changed your name, you may update your voter registration online. You will need your Texas drivers license or personal ID card, social security number, and your Voter Registration Card VUID (Voter Unique Identifier) number.  If you do not have your VUID number, you can find it  by putting in your name, county and date of birth here or by contacting your County Voter Registrar.

You may also update your voter registration when you update your driver's license online,  or you may fill  out a new paper voter registration application.

Voting a limited ballot

If you moved to a new county and missed the voter registration deadline, you may be eligible to vote a limited ballot at your county’s main voting location during the early voting period. The limited ballot application will also act as a voter registration application. Contact your county voter registration official for more information.

Student voters

For college student voters living away from home, it is safest and easiest to register and vote at your college residence address. 

Voters without a residence

For voters without a residence, in the space on the registration form for residence address, it’s safest to put the street address of an agency where you receive aid. If you have a P.O. box where you receive your mail, put that P.O. box number in the space for mailing address. 

Employers must grant employees paid time off if they don't have two consecutive hours outside of working hours to do so on Election Day or during early voting. 

To verify your voter registration status

The voting systems used in Texas are optical scan, DRE and paper ballots.

Optical Scan: With this system, you will receive a card or sheet of paper, which you take over to a private table or booth. The card has the names of the various candidates and ballot measures printed on it. With a pen or pencil you fill in a little box or circle or the space between two arrows. When you are finished filling out all the cards, you may bring the cards over to a ballot box, where poll workers will show you how to put the cards in the box. Or in some places, you may feed the completed cards or papers into a computer device that checks your card or paper right there at the polling place to make sure you have voted the way you want to and counts the votes.

Direct Recording Electronic (DRE): This is the newest kind of system in use in the U.S. All the information about who and what you are voting for is on an electronic screen like a TV or computer screen.

There are many variations of DREs because lots of companies are inventing new ones, and many cities, counties and states are trying them out. Usually, after you have signed in, the poll workers will give you a card that you slide into a device to start your voting session.

Some of these devices will show all of the candidates and ballot choices on one big screen. Often, with these big screen devices you push a button next to the name of the candidate you want to vote for (or yes or no on a ballot measure). On other DREs, the screen is set up to show pages. On each screen or page, there will probably be one thing to vote on. For example, on one screen or page, you might vote for president. Then you might move to the next page to vote for senator. Often these small-screen devices have a touch screen, where you touch the screen next to the name of the person you want to vote for. Other devices have a key pad. And some have a keyboard, so you can write in the name of someone you want to vote for.

You let the system know you are finished voting by pushing a button, touching the screen or entering something on a keypad.

Paper Ballots: Paper ballots are one of the oldest ways of voting in America. They are still used in a few places on Election Day. When you come to the polling place, you will get a paper ballot from the poll worker. You take it to the voting booth, and use a pen or pencil to mark a box next to your candidate and issue choices. You then drop the marked ballot into a sealed ballot box.

The following vendors are currently certified by the State of Texas: Election Systems & Software (ES&S) and Hart InterCivic

You can learn more about voting systems by checking out the Elections Assistance Commission's (EAC) resource.