Vote by mail for Texas

[jreich]

Hi all,

We're new full timers that have established domicile in Livingston TX and have registered to vote. However, I have questions about voting by mail. We are coming from California, where you have a option for "permanent vote by mail" during registration, but in TX it looks very different.

 

I found the form (at http://www.longdistancevoter.org/files/voter_forms/Texas_absentee_english.pdf ) and we are under the age of 65, so it looks like we must register individually for every election and must have another address outside of the county!

 

Is my interpretation correct? How are other people handling this?

 

thanks for any advice you can provide,

Jason.

 

[Kirk W]

Is my interpretation correct? How are other people handling this?

Not quite. You do need to have your ballot mailed to an address outside of Polk County but Escapee's always provide the needed address for use by Escapees who are traveling, just for the ballots. That way you can still have it forwarded to you by the mail service. I suggest that you call the office and ask them to explain how it works for you. They have been doing this for years now. And you do not need to register each election. As long as you vote regularly, your present registration will remain in effect. Each year you will be mailed a new voting card. If you fail to vote enough times in a row, and I don't remember how many that it, but know it is more than once, then your registration would need to be renewed.

[jreich]

Hi Kirk and all,

thanks for the info, and I eventually found this on the Escapees website as well:

https://www.escapees.com/knowledge/domicile/texas-domiclie-information

There is information about the vote by mail as well.

 

However, there isn't any guidance on what to put for "Date of return to residence address". Do you put some date far in the future (i.e. some time next year?), or what?

 

thanks

Jason.

[Kirk W]

I always used a "best guess" date of return or 6 months, whatever was more probable. I believe that what they are looking for is that you will not be at your residence address on or before election day.

[bigjim]

If you didn't catch this you can have it mailed directly to you in another county or state if you will be there long enough to receive it. If I have any doubt I will have it sent to the SKP set up address which I think is almost always Sheppard TX.

[LiveWorkDream]

Now here's something interesting. In the Application for Ballot By Mail form, it appears you can only apply for one absentee ballot...per year? Per season? Per week? See screenshot.

Does this mean if we request one for the primary election we cannot request an absentee ballot for the general election?

 

We plan on calling the voter registrar but would like to see if any SKPs have insight on this. Thanks!

[jreich]

LiveWorkDream, I interpreted that as one election per application. There isn't frequency limit that I saw on the form. What is leading you to interpret it as time limited?

 

Don't know anything for sure, just applied for it the first time. They acknowledged our application, but no indication of accepting it yet.

 

Jason.

[Al F]

It is one election per application, unless you are over 65, then if you leave the May November options blank they will mail you ballots for the year. If you are voting in the primary you must select Democrat or Republican.

[Kirk W]

It is one election per application, unless you are over 65, then if you leave the May November options blank they will mail you ballots for the year.

That is correct. We have voted absentee as many as 5 consecutive elections, using a new application for each election. What it is telling you is that in the event of a runoff election, you won't need to reapply but will get a ballot for that runoff mailed automatically. We have experienced that also.

[Barbaraok]

Not quite. You do need to have your ballot mailed to an address outside of Polk County but Escapee's always provide the needed address for use by Escapees who are traveling, just for the ballots. That way you can still have it forwarded to you by the mail service. I suggest that you call the office and ask them to explain how it works for you. They have been doing this for years now. And you do not need to register each election. As long as you vote regularly, your present registration will remain in effect. Each year you will be mailed a new voting card. If you fail to vote enough times in a row, and I don't remember how many that it, but know it is more than once, then your registration would need to be renewed.

 

Note, if you are over 65, you can have it mailed to your Escapee address and you can mark it for the whole year. So only one request needed.

 

Barb

[LiveWorkDream]

This is helpful, thank you so much!

[Velos]

I was just looking for this info, thanks for posting.

 

I thought this might be helpful from the SKP Website:
https://www.escapees.com/knowledge/domicile/texas-domiclie-information

 

Applying For Ballot By Mail
Once you have registered to vote, you may apply for a ballot. You can request a ballot application from the county clerk’s office (See “Voter Resources” below) or download one from www.sos.state.tx.us.

It is very important that you fill out your application for ballot carefully and completely. There are eight critical boxes that must be completed:

1. Name
2. Residence Address (the same one you used on the residence line of your voter registration)
3. Type and Date of Election (example: Primary/March 06)
4. Party Preference (You MUST select a party if voting in a primary.)
5. Reason for voting by mail (out of county traveling)
6. Special Instructions For Mailing Ballot (Most of you would probably indicate “Address outside of the county.”)
7. Mail My Ballot To (When you are voting absentee, you cannot have your ballot sent to any address in the county in which you are registered, unless you are 65 or older or disabled.) Escapees Mail Service members who are traveling out of the state may have their ballots sent to the following address:
   Your Namec/o Escapees RV Club,PO Box 1578Shepherd, TX 77371
8. Sign Here (make sure you sign your application).

Including your phone number will allow the county clerk to contact you if needed.

Early Voting Application

To be eligible to vote early by mail in Texas, you must:

• be 65 years or older;
• be disabled;
• be out of the county on election day and during the period for early voting by personal appearance; or
• be confined in jail, but otherwise eligible.

To request an Early Voting application from the Secretary of State website.
Go to www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/reqabbm.shtml and enter your mailing address.
An application will be mailed to you directly. This will save the step of requesting an application by mail from the early voting clerk in your county!

[jreich]

FYI, we just got our ballots in our mail packet yesterday.

We applied for vote by mail Jan 19th (by email with scanned form)

Our ballots were postmarked Jan 25.

Looks like Escapees processed them about Feb 8th (based on some handwriting on the envelope).

And we ordered our mail on Tuesday, received yesterday Feb 12.

 

Remember you need to have it mailed and delivered by the primary day March 1st, so hurry. And there are six referendums to research!