Texas Voting Information

This post will remain at the top of my page until November 6, 2012.

First day of Early Voting in Person Monday, October 22, 2012

Last chance to vote, Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Important 2012 Election Dates (Revised by Federal Court Orders)

To make the voting process even easier, we urge you to look over the sections

Early Voting,  and Voters with special needs, and Your Rights.

Voters with Special Needs

Students

Military and Overseas Voters

Volunteer Deputy Registrar

Student Election Clerks

Student Clerk FAQ’S

       Wear this sticker proudly!

Review the Voter ID Laws for individual states here:  STATE Voter Identification Requirements

Latest News

September 4, 2012: The Dept. of Justice granted pre-clearance for New Hampshire’s voter ID law.

August 30, 2012: A federal district court in Washington, D.C. has denied pre-clearance for Texas’s voter ID law. Pre-clearance was denied by the U.S. Dept. of Justice in March 2012 and Texas applied to the court for reconsideration. Any appeal of today’s opinion would go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

August 22, 2012: The U.S. Department of Justice granted pre-clearance for Virginia’s amendment to its voter ID law, meaning it can be used in the November election. Virginia’s law is not as strict as the laws that were denied pre-clearance in South Carolina and Texas.

August 15, 2012: A State judge upheld Pennsylvania’s voter ID law. The case has been appealed to the state supreme court. View the opinion here.

June 27, 2012: The New Hampshire General Court overrode a gubernatorial veto of a voter ID bill. The state is subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, so the new voter ID law cannot take effect unless preclearance is granted. It should be noted that New Hampshire’s new voter ID law differs in several important ways from the South Carolina and Texas laws rejected by the U.S. Department of Justice in recent months. One important difference is that voters who are unable to present photo ID at the polls will still be allowed to vote after signing an affidavit of identity.

March 12, 2012: A state judge ruled Wisconsin‘s voter ID law unconstitutional (read the opinion). Unless the state succeeds in obtaining an injunction blocking this order, Wisconsin’s new strict photo ID law will not be in effect for the April 3 presidential primary. Another state judge had issued a temporary stay in a separate case earlier in March (read the order).

March 12, 2012: The U.S. Department of Justice has denied pre-clearance for Texas’s new voter ID law, passed in 2011. Texas also filed suit with a three-judge panel seeking pre-clearance; a hearing on that should happen this Wednesday. Read more.

INFORMATION WILL BE UPDATED AS THEY OCCUR

So, it is very important to understand what you need to be allowed to vote, especially in Texas. Some business owners will pressure you to vote for their favorite candidate.  The law allows you to vote for whoever you want … even if you have to write their name on the ballot.

If the Texas Republican legislature decides it doesn’t  like the way you may vote, (because they think they know your mind), they will make it very hard for you to qualify.

  Arrest Made in Voter Registration Fraud Case. There are plenty of people who understand how important your voting rights are, and will help you get your valid ID. But beware of private registration helpers contracted by the GOP. They may throw your application away of they think you will vote Democrat.  Colin Small, 31, Phoenixville, Pa was a Voter Registration Supervisor, employed by Pinpoint, an independent private organization contracted by the Republican Party of Virginia, for purposes of general voter registration.

The number of Florida counties reporting suspicious voter registration forms connected to Strategic Allied Consulting, the firm hired by the state Republican Party to sign up new voters, has grown to 10, officials said, as local election supervisors continue to search their forms for questionable signatures, addresses or other identifiers. … Strategic Allied was shown on a video outside a store in Colorado Springs recently telling a potential voter that she wanted to register only Republicans.

National Republican Voter Registration Strategy Includes Lying to Potential Voters About ‘Taking a Poll’ in Order to Screen Out Obama Supporters . Voter Registration workers employed by Strategic, and other Republican outfits, caught on video tape in a number of states, lying to potential registrants about being pollsters, rather than registration workers, in an attempt to keep Democratic-leaning voters from being able to register at all. The effort seems to be systematic and coordinated, as witnessed in states from Florida to Nevada to Virginia to Oregon and elsewhere.

GOP Voter Registration Strategy — Lying to Potential Voters About ‘Taking a Poll’ to Screen Out Obama Supporters.

Litigation has snared Texas’ plan to purge the dead from voter rolls. “Texas’ effort to clear the dead from its voting rolls is being challenged in state court, in the latest dust-up over who can cast votes this election season…Gov. Rick Perry recently asked county officials to send out written notices to Texans who might be deceased based on Social Security death records. The notices said people could be removed from the rolls if they didn’t verify within 30 days that they were alive and eligible to vote…But many people receiving the notices are in fact not dead, and a group of them in Austin sued, contending that the state initiative improperly risks disenfranchising voters.” Nathan Koppel and Tom Fowler in The Wall Street Journal..