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Helpful hints on voting early by mail

Voting by mail in Texas has been available to elderly voters and voters with physical disabilities for decades. Remember, however, that many of the legal safeguards designed to protect voters and their ballots are impossible to enforce in the privacy of the voter’s home. Here are a few tips that may prove helpful:

  1. Call your local or county office holding the election or the Secretary of State’s office and request that an application to vote by mail be sent to you.
  2. If you need help filling out the form or mailing it, ask someone you trust to help you. Your helper’s name and address must be written next to your signature and they must sign the application.
  3. Address your application to the Early Voting Clerk. Applications mailed to an address other than the Early Voting Clerk will be rejected.
  4. Send your application for a ballot by mail up to two months before an election. This will give you plenty of time to receive your ballot, mark it and mail it back to the Early Voting Clerk.
  5. Generally, a ballot must be mailed to the address where you are registered to vote. However, if you are 65 or older or have a physical disability, you may have your ballot sent to a hospital, nursing home or long-term care facility, retirement center, or relative, but you must check the blank on the form indicating which address you are providing.
  6. If you need help reading, marking or mailing the actual ballot, ask a trusted relative or friend for help. It’s not uncommon for someone from a political organization to offer to help with your ballot soon after you've received it. We recommend you decline this kind of help for several reasons. If you allow your ballot to be mailed by someone you don't know, it might not be mailed at all. If it’s delivered to the elections office by a common or contract carrier from the address of a candidate or a campaign's headquarters, your ballot will be rejected.
  7. Finally, if someone helps you with your mail ballot, you must put your helper's name and address on the carrier envelope, which is the one used to return your ballot to the early voting clerk. Your helper must also sign the carrier envelope.

Should a situation arise regarding any aspect of voting and you don’t know what to do, please call our office. Our legal staff is available toll-free at 1.800.252.8683 to answer questions and advise you on your rights as a voter.