Early Voting In Texas...

... runs from Oct. 22 to Nov. 2. For early voting schedules in other states, please see here.

Our voting machines look
something like this...

Note that in Harris County, Texas, if you vote early in person, you do NOT go to your designated polling place (which hasn't been announced yet anyway), but rather to any of 37 early voting locations around the county. Here is a list with a map (.pdf). The polls are also open different hours from Election Day; for early voting poll hours, see here (scroll down).

To check your voter registration, you have to visit a different site. The Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector is also the Harris County Voter Registrar; you can do several kinds of voter search here to verify you are registered and to see a mock-up of your voter certificate, together with a list of your current elected officials. In times past, you could vote with just your Texas Driver's License; I wouldn't bet on being able to do that this year... bring your voter certificate AND your TDL, whether the law requires both or not.

... yours may look... different!

If you insist on voting on Election Day, Nov. 6, you'll have to wait to find out your polling location. Yes, that's how badly the Texas GOP has fucked over redistricting in yet another attempt, possibly the third in 10 years, some of them successful, to obtain an illegal, unfair advantage. I presume the county will eventually list polling places, probably on the evening of Nov. 5. [/snark] If anything goes wrong at your polling place on Election Day, or if a "patriot" group takes exception to your skin color or neighborhood of residence and tries to force you to use a provisional ballot ("provisional" in this context means "no way in Hell will this ballot ever be counted"), it's pretty much too late to do anything about it. Election Day voting should be viewed as an absolute last resort.

I highly recommend voting early: the poll locations and hours are already established, the lines are much shorter, and there's not really any more danger that your vote will be "lost" than there is on Election Day.

Again, when you go to vote, bring both your voter certificate AND a photo ID containing your home address, e.g., a driver's license. The law may or may not require it by that time, but if you have it, you will have a lot better argument with those who would prevent you from voting. Believe me... they are out there.