With early voting in the mid-term elections due to begin Monday, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties have increased the number of polling places, expanded the space in others and in some cases found new sites after school district representatives, citing the Uvalde school shooting, initially said they no longer wanted to be a polling site.
Early voting runs from October 24 to November 4. Election Day is Tuesday, November 8.
In Fort Bend County, the county's election administrator John Oldham said, "We tried to increase the number of sites, especially in high growth areas." Five additional early-voting sites are a result of the county's search for alternative polling locations after several of their school systems initially declined to open up their facilities, he said.
After the Uvalde shooting, several of our school districts opted out of being available," Oldham said. "Because of this, the county was forced to find alternative sites." After school district officials reversed their stance around September 1, the elections group decided to retain both the school sites and the alternative sites, leading to the additional locations for the mid-term elections, he explained.
The counties are also having to ensure that their voting booths are accessible to all.
“Half of all our issued stations or booths are ADA-compliant, so handicap accessible, they have wider legs and the height for someone to access them in a wheelchair,” Oldham said. “All of our other machines have audio capabilities for the visually-impaired, and contrast settings on screen for those who have issues with macular degeneration.”
Fort Bend County also provides a curbside voting option. This option is only available by voter-request, and is accepted if the voter’s condition prevents someone from in-person voting without risk of illness or injury. Poll workers will bring their ballots out for them and they will use a self-contained version of technology that is compatible with what is used inside.
The state requires all counties to have instituted the required voting order priority. This allows certain in-person voters with disabilities to request election officers to allow them to move up in line.
In Montgomery County there are four new polling locations listed on its website. In addition they have added space to four existing sites.
Ahead of early-voting, Montgomery County also tried to ensure voters know how to operate their new voting technologies. The county hosted an event on October 15, where residents were able to test these new devices out.
All registered voters need to bring a form of identification with them to their polling location. This includes a valid Texas Driver’s license, Texas election ID certificate, Texas personal ID certificate or card, Texas handgun license, U.S. Military ID with photo, U.S. Citizenship certificate with photo or a U.S. Passport.
Voters without any of these can also bring either a certified birth certificate, valid voter registration certificate, a form of check or a government document with your name and address on it.
Fort Bend County early-voting polling locations are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday and only certain polling locations are open noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
