Updated Sept. 1, 2012@ 12:15am
If you have not already received your new yellow 2012-13 voter registration card, you may not be registered to vote in the county where you currently reside. Usually, election officials mail out new cards in December, but this election year, it's all different!
This year, drawn out court battles over the new redistricting maps pushed out Voter Registration Card mailings to late April. Please take your Voter Registration Card with you when you go to vote. Make sure you sign the card on the front by the X at the bottom left of the card.
Early voting for the Nov 6, 2012 General Election will run from Monday, Oct 22, 2012 to Friday, Nov 2, 2012 at your usual county early polling locations.
You should immediately check your registration status and take action to properly register, if you find you are not registered to vote in the county where you reside.
To check your Collin Co. registration status - click here. To check your registration status in another Texas county - click here. If you find you are not registered to vote, you can find the Voter's Registration application by clicking here.
For specific information about voting in Texas, click here to find the Secretary of State’s pamphlet on Texas Voting.
Texas' SB14 photo I.D. law is currently on hold pending an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. (see Texas Voter Photo ID FAQ, Texas Voter Photo I.D. Law Fate Rests With D.C. Circuit Court Judges & Texas Restrictive Voter Photo ID Law Blocked) Select government issued photo ID, as specified in SB14 legislation passed by the Texas legislature in 2011, has NOT received federal approval and is therefore NOT required to vote in any Texas county for the November 2012 election.
Valid forms of identification for the November 2012 General Election:
- Your Voter Registration Card
- A driver’s license or personal identification card issued to you by the Texas Department of Public Safety. You may also bring a similar document issued to you by an agency of another state, even if the license or card has expired;
- A form of identification that contains your photograph and establishes your identity;
- A birth certificate or other document confirming birth that is admissible in a court of law and establishes the person’s identity;
- Your United States citizenship papers;
- Your United States passport;
- Official mail addressed to you by a governmental entity; or
- A copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows your name and address.
A statement concerning identification requirements on the back of 2012-13 Voter Registration Cards, as specified by the Texas Secretary of State, can be misinterpreted to mean that voters must present select government issue photo identification in order to vote, as specified in SB14. Here is the statement written on the back of new 2012 voter registration cards:
"Upon federal approval of a photo identification law passed by the Texas Legislature in 2011, a voter must show one of the following forms of photo identification at the polling location before the voter may be accepted for voting: Driver's license, election identification certificate, personal identification card or concealed handgun license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety; United States Military identification card that contains the person's photograph; United States citizenship certificate that contains the person's photograph; or a United States passport.
The above identification must be current and not expired, or if expired, then it must have expired no more than 60 days before it is presented for voter qualification at the polling place. Please contact the Secretary of State or your local voter registrar for information concerning when the above photo identification requirement for certain voters with disabilities, or voters with religious objections to being photographed, and voters affected by certain natural disasters.
Please visit the Secretary of State website at www.sos.state.tx.us or call toll free at 1-800-252-8683. If any information on this certificate changes or is incorrect, correct the information in the space provided below, sign and return this certificate to the voter registrar."
Description of some of the fields on the voter registration card: