Early Voting -- What to Know
- Election Day Voter Guide: Find key dates, how to check your voter status, how to find out where and when you can vote early and on Election Day, and what you'll need to bring with you to the polls.
- When is Election Day? Tuesday, Nov. 5, is Election Day. On that day, polls will be open in Texas from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. You'll be allowed to vote if you're in line by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
- Where can I vote early? Early voting runs from Monday, Oct. 21, through Friday, Nov. 1. Click here for early voting hours and locations for Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties.
- How many people have voted early? A record number of people voted early on Monday, the first day of early voting. Click here to see daily early voting totals from Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties and to compare them to previous years.
- Who is on the ballot? Click the links to filter races by category or county: Federal races | State races | Collin County | Dallas County | Denton County | Tarrant County
- How can I vote by mail? The deadline is coming up. Everything you need to know is here.
Early voting in Texas begins Monday, Oct. 21, at 7 a.m. During early voting, registered voters in most North Texas counties can vote anywhere in their county until Friday, Nov. 1.
As Election Day nears, a historic turnout is anticipated at the polls. The Texas Secretary of State said 18.6 million Texans are registered to vote, an increase of more than a million from the 2020 elections.
New security measures have been implemented in Tarrant County. More than a dozen changes, including improved employee training, cybersecurity assessments, and stricter access controls, take effect Monday.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
According to Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, the added provisions were implemented to preserve the integrity of the election process. In-person voters will also notice a change in their printed ballots. Ballots will be pre-printed, serialized, and sequentially numbered.
“You'll see a number on your ballot. You can remember that number,” O’Hare said. “You can literally go look later online to see that your vote has been counted.”
On Friday, the Dallas County Elections Department finalized another round of testing for its voting machines, which will be distributed to 71 early voting centers.
According to Heider Garcia, the Dallas County Elections Administrator, the machines are operating properly. He added that safeguards are in place to prevent any tampering with them.
“We are ready. We have trained everyone. We have programmed all the equipment. We've shown that we're ready. It comes down to people showing up to vote,” Garcia said.
Dallas County reported 1.47 million registered voters this year. Tarrant County’s online Voter Dashboard showed more than 1.3 million registered voters.
One of the key races in Texas is for the U.S. Senate. Registered voters have a chance to shake things up as U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) faces an uphill battle to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
On Sunday’s Lone Star Politics, former Republican Illinois representative Adam Kinzinger said it’s a tight race.
“There’s no doubt it’s close. Texas is not favorable to Democrats. But all you have to do is look back at 2018 when Beto O’Rourke came within two points of Ted Cruz. He's obviously way further to the left than Colin Allred is,” Kinzinger said. “And then this presidential year, Democrats usually turn out in higher numbers in a presidential year. Whereas the last time with Beto, that was a non-presidential year.”
The stakes are also high for the presidential election. On Sunday, presidential candidates made stops in battleground states as the race enters its final stretch.
Former President Donald Trump handed out french fries at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania while Vice President Kamala Harris visited churches in Georgia.
Registered early voters in Texas must present a valid photo ID and request a mail-in ballot by Friday, Oct. 25.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. The last day to register to vote in the election is Monday, Oct. 7. Voter registration status can be checked here.
