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How To Register To Vote In Texas At The Last Minute

Erik Hersman
/
Flickr

Tuesday is the deadline to register to vote for the upcoming election on Nov. 8.  

Since the deadline is coming quickly, your best bet is to register in person. Here are a few tips to make sure you can vote next month.

 

 

Am I registered?

If you think you might be registered already, check here. You can confirm if you’re registered by searching with three pieces of identification:

  1. Your Voter Unique Identifier (VUID) that appears on your voter registration certificate.
  2. Your Texas driver’s license number, if you provided it when you applied for voter registration.
  3. Your first and last name. Or, you can call your local voter registrar’s office.

 

To register or update your registration:

To update your name or address, visit here. If you moved counties, you’ll have to re-register. To register, fill out the Texas voter registration form online, which is also available in Spanish.

 

Print and return the form to your county voter registrar’s office. Forms are also available at your county voter registrar’s office or at other locations such as public libraries, post offices or high schools.

 

When you’re filling out the registration form, you’ll need to:

  1. Respond "Yes" or "No" to whether you’re a citizen.  
  2. Mark whether you're filling out a new application, changing your address or name or requesting a replacement voter registration card.
  3. Provide your name, date of birth and your Texas Driver’s License or ID card number. If you don't have one, provide the last four digits of your Social Security number.

 
From now until Tuesday, there might be a few last-minute local registration events in Dallas-Fort Worth, like this all-day event in Plano.

 

Voter eligibility and identification requirements in Texas

 

To be eligible to vote you must be a U.S. citizen, 18 years old by election day and living in the county that matches your registration. Also, you must not be serving a sentence or parole for a felony conviction. Read more from the Texas Secretary of State's office on voting.

 

Here are the 7 acceptable forms of voter identification:

Texas was forced to weaken its voter ID requirements for this election after the Supreme Court in July ruled the state's 2011 lawviolated the Voting Rights Act.

The following are acceptable forms of identification to bring when casting your ballot:

  • Texas driver license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)
  • Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS
  • Texas personal identification card issued by DPS
  • Texas license to carry a handgun issued by DPS
  • United States military identification card containing the person’s photograph
  • United States citizenship certificate containing the person’s photograph
  • United States passport

If a voter can't present one of those seven forms of ID, the voter can sign a declaration at the polls explaining why he or she can't obtain of the approved forms and provide one of the following forms of supporting documentation:

  • A certified birth certificate (must be original)
  • A valid voter registration certificate
  • A copy or original of one of the following: current utility bill, bank statement, government check, or paycheck or other government document that shows the voter’s name and an address.

Government documents which include a photo must be original and cannot be copies.
More information

 

For more information on early voting (begins Oct. 24), voter identification and polling locations, visit the Texas Secretary of State’s website.

 

If you have problems voting or registering call the Secretary of State for Texas at (800) 252-VOTE.