Student Voting Project | Texas

Voting at School

ID Requirements

At the polls, every Texas voter must show their voter registration certificate, the confirmation of your registration you should get from the registrar in the mail.[1]  If you’re unable to show your certificate, you’ll have to sign an affidavit and show ID.[2]  The following forms of ID are accepted at the polls: (1) a driver's license or personal identification card from any state, regardless of whether the license or card has expired; (2) any photo ID with the voter’s name, including student IDs; (3) a birth certificate; (4) U.S. citizenship papers; (5) a U.S. passport; (6) official mail from a governmental entity and addressed to you; and (7) a copy of a current utility bill (including cell phone bills), bank statement, government check, paycheck, housing bill from a public college or university, or other government document that shows the voter’s name and address, including a housing bill from a public college or university.[3]  First time voters who registered without providing a driver’s license or the last four digits of their social security number may be asked to provide two forms of ID, one of which must be a photo ID.  If you can’t show the required ID, you’ll have to vote a provisional ballot.  The ballot will be counted if it can be determined from your ballot and registration records that you are an eligible voter.[4]

Registration Requirements

The voter registration deadline is technically 30 days before the election, but if the 30th day before Election Day is a weekend or national holiday, voting registration forms are due on the next business day.[5]   Since the 30th day before a Tuesday is always a Sunday, the deadline for all elections held on a Tuesday (including all federal elections) is 29 days before the election.  If you register by mail, your registration application must be postmarked by that date.[6]

Residency Requirements

Under Texas law, your “residence” for voting is your fixed home, the place where you “intend[] to return after any temporary absence.”[7] You must actually live at your voting address and intend to make it your current, legal residence.[8] However, you need not intend to stay at your Texas residence after graduation, or for any set amount of time.[9]

Texas state officials recognize that many students who move to attend school may have more than one home that could be considered their voting residence. The Texas Attorney General has stressed that students—like all other voters—have the right to determine their residence.[10] A student’s intent to establish residency is the key determinative factor.[11] The Texas Secretary of State has stated clearly that students may choose which residence they consider their primary residence, and register either at their parents’ home address or at their school address.[12] “The presumption is not in favor of the parents’ home or the college home; rather, the presumption is in favor of the voter’s own assessment of the facts and his or her intent.”[13]  At times, students in Texas have had difficulty registering in particular counties, but this ruling from the Secretary of State is clear, and any registrar who holds you to a different standard is violating the law.

Students who lived in Texas before moving elsewhere to attend school, and who wish to establish or keep their Texas voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ Texas address), should have no problem doing so unless they’ve already registered to vote in another state.  Like all states, Texas allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the district to attend school, and the only way you might lose this residency is by establishing residency in a new state.[14]  While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered abandonment of your Texas residency, some judges or officials might view it as such.

Election officials should not regularly challenge what a voter states on his or her registration form.[15]  If an official does challenge your eligibility to vote based on residency, they must explain their reasons for the challenge and tell you how to request a hearing to appeal the issue.[16] You are entitled to a hearing with the registrar of voters within 10 days of your request.[17] At this hearing, you have the right to appear personally and to offer evidence on your behalf.[18] After the hearing, the registrar must make a prompt determination of your eligibility.[19]  Your residency can also be challenged by another eligible voter of the county before the registrar, following a similar procedure.[20]  You are entitled to appeal the registrar’s decision in the local district court within 30 days, but the district court’s decision is final.[21]  Your eligibility to vote based on residency can’t be challenged at the polls.

Absentee Requirement

All absentee voting is called “early voting” in Texas, even when you vote by mail.[22] Any registered voter who expects to be away from home during the in-person early voting period[23] and on Election Day may vote early by mail.[24] To vote early by mail, you must submit an early voting application, available on the web site of the Secretary of State or by calling 1-800-252-VOTE. Your county clerk must receive your application at least 7 days before Election Day.[25] If that date is a weekend or national holiday, your application may be received on the next business day. Your mail-in ballot must be received by your county clerk by the time polls close on Election Day.[26] Neither your ballot nor your application need to be witnessed.

Voting at Home

ID Requirements

At the polls, every Texas voter must show their voter registration certificate, the confirmation of your registration you should get from the registrar in the mail. If you're unable to show your certificate, you'll have to sign an affidavit and show ID. The following forms of ID are accepted at the polls: (1) a driver's license or personal identification card from any state, regardless of whether the license or card has expired; (2) any photo ID with the voter's name, including student IDs; (3) a birth certificate; (4) U.S. citizenship papers; (5) a U.S. passport; (6) official mail from a governmental entity and addressed to you; and (7) a copy of a current utility bill (including cell phone bills), bank statement, government check, paycheck, housing bill from a public college or university, or other government document that shows the voter's name and address, including a housing bill from a public college or university. First time voters who registered without providing a driver's license or the last four digits of their social security number may be asked to provide two forms of ID, one of which must be a photo ID. If you can't show the required ID, you'll have to vote a provisional ballot. The ballot will be counted if it can be determined from your ballot and registration records that you are an eligible voter.

Registration Requirements

The voter registration deadline is technically 30 days before the election, but if the 30th day before Election Day is a weekend or national holiday, voting registration forms are due on the next business day. Since the 30th day before a Tuesday is always a Sunday, the deadline for all elections held on a Tuesday (including all federal elections) is 29 days before the election. If you register by mail, your registration application must be postmarked by that date.

Residency Requirements

Under Texas law, your "residence" for voting is your fixed home, the place where you intend to return after any temporary absence. You must actually live at your voting address and intend to make it your current, legal residence. However, you need not intend to stay at your Texas residency after graduation, or for any set amount of time.

Texas state officials recognize that many students who move to attend school may have more than one home that could be considered their voting residence. The Texas Attorney General has stressed that students—like all other voters—have the right to determine their residence. A student's intent to establish residency is the key determinative factor. The Texas Secretary of State has stated clearly that students may choose which residence they consider their primary residence, and register either at their parents' home address or at their school address. "The presumption is not in favor of the parents' home or the college home; rather, the presumption is in favor of the voter's own assessment of the facts and his or her intent." Students in Texas have sometimes had difficulty registering in particular counties, but this ruling from the Secretary of State is clear, and any registrar who holds you to a different standard is violating the law.

Students who lived in Texas before moving elsewhere to attend school, and who wish to establish or keep their Texas voting residency (i.e., at their parents' Texas address), should have no problem doing so unless they've already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, Texas allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the district to attend school, and the only way you might lose this residency is by establishing residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered abandonment of your Texas residency, some judges or officials might view it as such.

Challenges to Residency

Election officials should not regularly challenge what a voter states on his or her registration form. If an official does challenge your residency, they must explain their reasons for the challenge and tell you how to request a hearing to appeal the issue. You are entitled to a hearing with the registrar of voters within 10 days of your request. At this hearing, you have the right to appear personally and to offer evidence on your behalf. After the hearing, the registrar must make a prompt determination of your eligibility. Your residency can also be challenged by another eligible voter of the county before the registrar, following a similar procedure. You are entitled to appeal the registrar's decision in the local district court within 30 days, but the district court's decision is final. Your residency can't be challenged at the polls.

Absentee Requirement

All absentee voting is called "early voting" in Texas, even when you vote by mail. Any registered voter who expects to be away from home during the in-person early voting period and on Election Day may vote early by mail. To vote early by mail, you must submit an early voting application, available on the web site of the Secretary of State or by calling 1-800-252-VOTE. Your county clerk must receive your application at least 7 days before Election Day. If that date is a weekend or national holiday, your application may be received on the next business day. Your mail-in ballot must be received by your county clerk by the time polls close on Election Day. Neither your ballot nor your application need to be witnessed.

[1] Tex. Elec. Code Ann. § 63.001 (Vernon 2009).

[2] Id. at §§ 63.001, 63.006, 63.008.

[3] Id. at § 63.0101.  

[4] Id. at § 65.054.

[5] Id. at § 13.143(a), (e) (Vernon 2009).

[6] Id. at 143(d).

[7] Id. at § 1.015 (Vernon 2009).

[8] See Mills v. Bartlett, 377 S.W.2d 636, 637 (Tex.1964).

[9] See Mills, 377 S.W.2d at 637; United States v. Texas, 445 F. Supp. 1245, 1249, 1257 (S. D. Tex. 1978), aff’d sub nom Symm v. United States, 379 U.S. 1105 (1979); Letter from Geffrey S. Connor, Texas Secretary of State, to Rick Perry, Governor of Texas (Jan. 22, 2004), available at http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/elo/gsc1.pdf (last visited on April 26, 2010).

[10] Residency Requirements for Voting in an Election in Texas, Op. Att’y Gen. No. GA-0141 at 12 (Tex. 2004).

[11] Id.

[12] Letter from Geoffrey S. Connor, Texas Secretary of State, to Rick Perry, Governor of Texas (Jan. 22, 2004), available at http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/elo/gsc1.pdf.

[13] Id. at 6–7.

[14] Tex. Elec. Code Ann. § 1.015 (Vernon 2009).

[15] Letter from Geoffrey S. Connor, Texas Secretary of State, to Rick Perry, Governor of Texas at 6–7 (Jan. 22, 2004), available at http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/elo/gsc1.pdf

[16] Tex. Elec. Code Ann. § 13.075.

[17] Id. at § 13.077.

[18] Id at § 13.077(c) (Vernon 2009).            

[19] Id. at § 13.079(a).

[20] Id. at § 16.091–095.

[21] Id. at § 17.001–008.

[22] Id. at § 81.001 (Vernon 2009).

[23] Usually 15 days before Election Day through 4 days before Election Day.  Id. at § 85.001 (Vernon 2009).

[24] Id. at § 82.001.

[25] Id. at § 86.007.

[26] Id. at § 86.007.