Early voting begins October 21 in Texas – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Early voting in Texas begins at 7 a.m. Monday, October 21st. During early voting, registered voters can vote anywhere in their county through November 1st.

As Election Day approaches, historic voter turnout is expected. The Texas Secretary of State said 18.6 million Texans are eligible to vote, an increase of more than a million from the 2020 election.

New safety measures have been implemented in Tarrant County. The more than a dozen changes taking effect Monday include enhanced employee training, cybersecurity assessments and stricter access controls.

According to Judge Tim O’Hare, the additional provisions were implemented to preserve the integrity of the electoral process. In-person voters will also notice a change in their printed ballots. Ballots are pre-printed, numbered sequentially and numbered sequentially.

“There is a number on your ballot. You can remember this number,” O’Hare said. “You can literally check online later to see how your vote was counted.”

On Friday, the Dallas County Elections Department completed another round of testing of its voting machines, which will be distributed to 71 early voting centers.

According to Heider Garcia, the county elections director, the machines are working properly. He added that security measures have been taken to prevent tampering with it.

“We are ready. We trained everyone. We programmed all the equipment. We have shown that we are ready. What matters is that people show up to vote,” Garcia said.

Dallas County reported 1.47 million registered voters this year.

Tarrant County’s online voter dashboard shows more than 1.3 million registered voters.

One of the most important races in Texas is the race for U.S. Senate. Registered voters have a chance to make a splash as U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) faces a tough battle to unseat incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

On Sunday’s “Lone Star Politics,” former Illinois Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger said it was a close race.

“There is no doubt it is close. Texas is not favorable for Democrats. But all you have to do is look back to 2018, when Beto O’Rourke came within two points of Ted Cruz. He’s obviously a lot further to the left than Colin Allred,” Kinzinger said. “And in this presidential year, Democrats are usually represented in larger numbers. The last time with Beto, however, was not a presidential year.”

There is also a lot at stake in the presidential election. On Sunday, presidential candidates made stops in battleground states as the race entered its final stages.

Former President Donald Trump handed out fries in Pennsylvania while Vice President Kamala Harris visited churches in Georgia.

Registered early voters in Texas must provide a valid photo ID and request an absentee ballot by Friday, October 25th.

Election day is Tuesday, November 5th. The last day to register to vote is Monday, October 7th. Voter registration status can be checked here.