Voters Are Told To Double-Check Their Voter Registration Ahead of Early Voting

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Amid the recent voter roll cleanup — which is standard practice — residents are encouraged to check their voter registration information or register to vote if they have not already done so. The last day to register to vote is Monday, October 7. Registered voters can go to the Harris County Tax Office's website to ensure all of their information is updated. Those not registered to vote should fill out a voter registration application and mail it to Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar Ann Harris Bennett at least 30 days before Election Day. According to the Harris County Clerk's Office, the county has over 2.6 million registered voters. Early voting will begin on Monday, October 21, and end on Friday, November 1. Residents can cast their ballots at any of the 88 early vote centers. Election Day is on Tuesday, November 5, and 688 vote centers will be open to serve voters opting to vote on that day. The application deadline for people who qualify to vote by mail — those 65 and older, sick, disabled, pregnant, out of state or jailed but still eligible to vote — is Monday, October 25. The Harris County Clerk's office must receive all applications by this date. This election is expected to have a significantly larger turnout than recent general and primary elections thanks to the battle for president between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Election officials were tasked with finding a new home base before this election cycle that could accommodate operations on a bigger scale. "To put it simply, conducting elections in the largest county in the state and the third largest in the nation requires a LOT of space," Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth wrote in an email to the . "We had quickly outgrown the limited space at the original Election Technology Center." When they started looking for a headquarters, they were notified that NRG — where they had conducted several elections in the past — would be unavailable. According to Irene Nuñez, director of communications for the Harris County Clerk's office, the department found a facility near Bush Intercontinental Airport. Nuñez said it would serve as the epicenter of elections moving forward. Hudspeth noted that preparations leading up to early voting and Election Day have scaled up due to the expected turnout but remained the same procedurally in line with the Texas Election Code. Election officials have been building and proofing ballots, testing election equipment, ensuring voting locations are accessible and training election workers, among other tasks. Harris County voters will also elect other federal, statewide, and local government candidates. The U.S. Senate race between Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Colin Allred is a localized but closer to the top-of-the-ticket race for voters. Experts have said that this race between the former prosecutor turned podcaster and former NFL linebacker is becoming increasingly close. Houston's Congressional District 18 residents will vote in two different races for the single seat. They will elect who will take over the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee's remaining term, and separately, for the new congress member who will start at the new term. The congresswoman's daughter, Erica Lee Carter, is running to serve the remaining term against Republican challengers Maria Dunn and Kevin Dural. Democratic Nominee and Former Houston Mayor Sylvester is going up against Republican Nominee Lana Centonze to take the seat in January. Another noteworthy race for Houston area residents is the Texas Senate District 15 race — the district represented for four decades by Houston Mayor John Whitmire — between State Senator Molly Cook and Republican Nominee Joseph Trahan. Cook was elected to serve the remainder of Whitmire's term in May after narrowly defeating State Representative Jarvis Johnson (D-Houston). The state senator defeated Johnson again in May to become the Democratic nominee to potentially take over the seat at the start of the new term. For all information on early voting and Election Day, Harris County voters can visit HarrisVotes.com .