How to Vote in Texas’ 2024 Elections

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• Deadline to register to vote: Monday, Oct. 7
• Early in-person voting: Monday, Oct. 21, through Friday, Nov. 1 
• Deadline to apply for a ballot by mail: Friday, Oct. 25
• Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 5

• Voter registration: The deadline is Monday, Oct. 7. Check your registration status via the state’s online voter portal.  

• Voting by mail: A ballot by mail is available to voters who meet certain qualifications, including those who are 65 or older. 

• Early voting: All registered voters may vote at an early voting site in their county. 

• Voting at the polls: Polls are open on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. You must provide an acceptable form of photo ID, such as a Texas driver’s license or U.S. passport.

Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP/Getty Images

Election laws enacted in 2023 have affected several voting rules and processes. Among the changes:

• Voters with mobility problems can skip the line when voting in person. Polling places must have at least one parking spot for voters who are physically unable to enter the site and want to vote curbside.

• Ballot-by-mail voters who make errors in their applications or submitted ballots will receive instructions from election officials on how to correct their mistakes when there’s enough time to meet voting deadlines.

• Early voting days and hours at each county’s main early voting polling place have been standardized for general elections, with weekend hours required.

A sweeping 2021 state law that banned drive-through and 24-hour early voting, introduced ID requirements for mail-in voters and prohibited election officials from distributing mail-in ballot applications to voters who didn’t request them faces legal challenges. Check back for updates.

Redistricting that went into effect in 2022 redrew the boundaries of certain state legislative and U.S. congressional districts, but litigation over some districts is ongoing. Confirm your district using the state’s online My Voter Portal.

The deadline to register is Monday, Oct. 7. On the registration application, you must provide your Texas driver’s license number, Texas personal ID card number or the last four digits of your Social Security number. Or check the box stating you don’t have one of these forms of ID.

You can register:

• By mail: Complete a voter registration application online. Then print, sign and mail it to your county registrar's office. To request an application be mailed to you, contact your county voter registrar. 

• In person: Request an application form at your county registrar's office, public libraries and certain government offices. 

Texas doesn’t permit registration on Election Day.

Check your registration status via the state’s online voter portal.

A ballot by mail is available to voters who meet certain qualifications, including those who are 65 or older, are sick or have a disability, or will be out of their home county on Election Day and during the early voting period. Applications must be received — not postmarked — by Friday, Oct. 25.

Apply for a ballot:

• By mail: Download an application, fill it in electronically or print and fill it in by hand. Or request an application be mailed to you from the secretary of state’s office or your county’s early voting clerk. Once complete, hand-deliver or mail your application to your county’s early voting clerk. Forms require first-class postage when mailed.

• In person: Request an application from your county’s early voting clerk.

• By email or fax: Download an application, and email the completed form to your county’s early voting clerk, or fax it, if the clerk’s office has a fax machine. You must also mail the original application to the clerk. If applying on or near the deadline, the mailed copy must be received by the clerk no later than the fourth business day after the email or fax version was received.

Your application must include your Texas driver’s license number, Texas personal ID number or election ID certificate number (which is different from your Voter Unique Identifier number). If you haven’t been issued one of these numbers, you can submit the last four digits of your Social Security number.

If you haven’t been issued any of the required personal identification numbers, you can check the box stating so, but your voter’s registration record must not contain any of these numbers.

A return envelope will be provided with your ballot. Before sealing your ballot in this envelope, you must include your Texas driver’s license number, Texas personal ID number or election ID certificate number in the space provided. If you haven’t been issued one of these numbers, you can submit the last four digits of your Social Security number, or a statement that you haven’t been issued one of the requested forms of ID.

Return your voted ballot:

• By mail: Mail your ballot to your early voting clerk. To be counted, your ballot must be postmarked by 7 p.m. on Nov. 5 and received by Nov. 6 at 5 p.m. 

• In person: Deliver your ballot to your early voting clerk’s office on Election Day by 7 p.m.

Check the status of your mail-in ballot via the state’s online Ballot by Mail Tracker.

Any eligible registered voter can cast a ballot at an early voting site in their county. Early voting runs from Monday, Oct. 21, to Friday, Nov. 1. Hours vary per location. Contact your county elections office for location details, or check the state’s online voter portal. Locations will be posted closer to the start of early voting.

Poll hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time. If your county participates in the Countywide Polling Place Program, you can vote at any location in your county. If your county doesn’t participate, you can only vote at the voting precinct assigned to you.

Find your voting precinct location using the state’s My Voter Portal, which will be populated with voting sites closer to Election Day, or contact your county elections office. Your voting precinct number (Pct. No.) is located next to your birth year on your voter registration certificate.

Learn about what’s on the ballot on the secretary of state’s website, closer to Election Day.

Before voting, you must present one of Texas’ seven acceptable forms of photo ID, which include a Texas driver’s license, an election identification certificate and a U.S. passport.If you don’t have a photo ID and can’t reasonably obtain one, you can fill out a Reasonable Impediment Declaration at your polling place. You must also present an acceptable form of supporting ID, such as a current utility bill or bank statement.If you have an acceptable photo ID but didn’t bring it to your polling place, you can still vote a provisional ballot. For your vote to count, you must present an acceptable ID to your county registrar within six days or process an exemption if it was lost in a natural disaster.

Voters who are sick or have a disability may request a ballot by mail.

All polling places in the state must be accessible for voters. Voters who can't read English may use interpreters at the polls. If a voter is physically unable to enter a polling place, curbside voting is available. If planning to vote curbside, you’re encouraged to call your polling place ahead of arrival.

If you need assistance to cast your ballot, you may ask a person of your choosing (aside from your employer, an agent of your employer, or an officer or agent of your union) or two election workers. The person assisting must recite an oath stating they’ll mark the ballot as directed and won’t try to influence the voter. For more information, visit the votetexas.gov website.

Editor’s note: This guide was originally published Jan. 11, 2024. It has been updated with new information about voting in the 2024 elections.

Grace Dickinson is a writer for aarp.org who covers federal and state policy. She previously wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Her work has also appeared on sites including HuffPost and Eater.

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