Hey Texas, Are you planning to vote in the midterm elections?

Great. First you need to get registered.

If you're a first time voter in Texas or have moved since the last election, you'll need to fill out a registration form and mail it by October 9th. You can find a link in the description to where you can fill out and print a registration form. Once your registration form is accepted, your county will mail you a voter certificate.

You don't need the certificate to vote, but the Texas Secretary of State's office recommends that you bring it with you anyway. Now for the fun part: you get to vote. Unfortunately, not everyone in Texas can vote early by mail.

Absentee voting is only available to you if you will be out of the county for the entire early voting period AND election day, are 65 or older, or you have an illness or disability that prevents you from getting to the polls. If one of those sounds like you, you can use the link below to print an application to vote by mail, and send it in by October 26th. You can still vote early though – any registered voter can vote early in person at an early vote location between October 22nd and November 2nd.

There's a link below to contact your county's early vote administrator and find out where you can vote early in your county. If you don't plan to vote early, there's a link below to find out where you should go to vote on Election Day. All polling locations are open from am to 7:00 pm.

Whether you vote early or on November 6th, you'll need to bring a photo ID. Acceptable IDs include a driver's license, passport, election identification certificate, personal identification card, military ID, citizenship certificate, or Texas handgun license. If you don't have one of those, you can sign a statement saying you don't have the required ID and use another proof of address instead like your voter registration certificate, birth certificate, or a utility bill, paycheck, or bank statement with your name and address on it.

You can also go to the link in the description and find your sample ballot, so you can see everything that you're able to vote for. You don't have to vote for everything on the ballot for your vote to count, but those local elections are pretty important so this gives you a chance to research your candidates and ballot measures ahead of time. You can even print one, fill it out, and take it to the polls with you to make sure you remember how you want to vote.

One last thing: if you're going to vote – open up your notes app or grab a piece of paper and make a plan. Write down when and how you're going to register, what time you're going to vote, how you're gonna get there, what ID you're going to use, even who you're going to bring to the polls with you. Having a plan is a great way to make sure that nothing unexpected stops you from voting on November 6th.

All the links you need to get registered and figure out where you can vote are below. Thank you for voting.