Early voting locations in Travis County are now open between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. until Friday, Nov. 4 (hours vary for mobile voting sites). Before you go, there are a few things you should do.
First thing of course, you should know what you're voting on. Bone up on the candidates with this Voter's Guide from the non-partisan League of Women Voters. You can also check out our coverage of local races, including City Council races and the $720 million transportation bond on the ballot in Austin.
Feeling informed? OK, here's a rundown of some things you should do next:
Make Sure You're Registered
You can go here to check if you are indeed registered properly in Travis County. Check out this site to verify your registration anywhere in the state.
Find Your Closest Early Voting Location
Consult the handy map below to find the closest or most convenient polling place. If you're registered to vote in Travis County, you can vote at any location during early voting or on Election Day.
Early voting locations for Williamson County are here (mobile early voting locations are here). A map of Hays County early voting locations is here (find hours here).
Check Out Wait Times Online
Thanks to the combination of a crazy election season and a high voter registration rate (more than 90 percent in Travis County), folks are expecting a high voter turnout. Dana DeBeauvoir, the Travis County Clerk, said people should anticipate long lines and plan ahead.
DeBeauvoir suggests voters log on to ivoteearly.com to get information about how long lines at polling places are.
“We have a new feature for voters this time that lets them pick the place with the shortest line. So, red, yellow, green tells you whether there is a red (long line) or green (short line),” she said.
Find A Ride
If you don’t have a ride easily accessible, folks in Austin’s tech sector are making it easier to find one.
Erin Defossé is the chief product officer with Aceable, as well as the principle behind TechVotes, a non-partisan group whose goal is to increase voter engagement in Austin.
Defossé says they’ve partnered with Ride Austin to offer first time riders “$10 off their ride to the polls.”
“Yellow Cab is doing free ride to the polls if you download their app,” he says. “RideConnect is doing a program where people can create their own rideshare communities to go out and vote.”
Bring ID
If you have a photo ID that is up to date, or expired up to four years, bring that ID to the polls.
If you had trouble getting an ID and just don’t have one, you have some options:
- You can bring your voter registration card and use that as your form of identification.
- If you don’t have your registration card, you can bring any kind of official document – that’s anything that has your name and address on it—like a bank statement or utility bill. While you are at the voting location, all you’ll have to do is a sign a form that says you had a reasonable impediment to getting an ID.
So, bottom line, folks: you have fewer excuses than usual to not vote this year.
Early voting runs from Oct. 24 until Nov. 4, and Nov. 8 is Election Day.
This post will be updated daily with new maps of mobile early voting locations.
