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General Election
Season Approaching
Now that the national conventions are complete and the parties
have nominated their candidates for president and vice president, we
traditionally mark Labor Day weekend as the beginning of the General
Election season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Greg Abbott has
ordered an extra week of no-excuse early voting. Over the past decade,
voting during the early voting period (usually two weeks… now three weeks)
has outpaced the number who vote on Election Day. Here are a few important
dates and deadlines for voting:
Last Day to Register to Vote - Monday, October 5th Early
Voting Period - Tuesday, October 13th through Friday, October 30th (check
your county for locations, dates and times) Election Day - Tuesday,
November 3rd (polls will be open 7am to 7pm; check your county for
locations)
Under Texas law, only certain people are eligible to vote by
mail, including:
·
Voter
is 65-years-old or older.
·
Voter
is disabled.
·
Voter
will be out of the county on Election Day and during the early voting
period - Voter is confined in jail, but otherwise eligible And the Texas
Supreme Court has ruled that "lack of immunity" to the
coronavirus is not a disability under state law that would qualify someone
for a mail-in ballot.
One final thought: Texas has eliminated straight-ticket
voting, the option for voters to check one box to cast a ballot for every
candidate from a single political party. While this option is not available
in most states, it accounted for nearly 64 percent of total votes cast in
the last presidential election in 2016. Supporters of the law change say
removing the option will force voters to make more informed decisions in
individual elections. Though the state did not collect data statewide on
straight-ticket votes cast, there have been generally fewer Republican
straight-ticket votes and more Democratic straight-ticket ballots in Texas'
largest 10 counties over the past four presidential elections.
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