One reason that election turnout in Texas is so low is that our laws regarding early voting are not always worker-friendly. For the November 4th election, all counties are required to make in-person early voting available from October 20th to October 31st during the hours that the county clerk's main business office is regularly open for business (usually 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday - Friday). However,
only counties with populations of 100,000 or more are required to increase the hours available to vote early in person to 12 hours during the final week (October 27th - October 31st) and to offer early voting for 12 hours on Saturday, October 25th and for at least 5 hours on Sunday, October 26th.
Put another way, any county with a population under 100,000 (and there are 200+ such counties) is NOT required to offer early voting in person before/after many voters' work hours or during that middle weekend. And many of those counties choose not to expand early voting days and times, which makes it difficult for working voters to get to the polls and vote before election day. I've read complaints on Facebook about limited early voting in smaller counties for years now and had no idea that anything could be done to change that.
Recently, however, the Texas Democratic Party (TDP) notified county chairs that registered voters in a county with a population under 100,000 may petition their county Election Clerk to expand in-person early voting availability. All you have to do is to submit the following petitions signed by a minimum of 15 voters registered in your county:
1st petition: You may request, and your county Election Clerk must grant, extended early voting hours (7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) at your main early voting location during the last week (October 27th - October 31st).
2nd petition: You may request, and your county Election Clerk must grant, that the main polling location be open for early voting for at least 12 hours on Saturday, October 25th and for at least 5 hours on Sunday, October 26th.
Note that the
same 15 or more registered voters in your county may sign
both petitions. Note also that
you need only 15 valid registered voters in the county to sign, in order to force expanded voting -- the only reason to collect more signatures is as insurance, in case any of the signatures should turn out not to represent voters duly registered in that county.
ACTION: Please contact family and friends who live in counties with populations under 100,000 and let them know that they can submit petitions that will force their county Election Clerk to expand early voting availability at the main polling location in their county. They should plan to submit those petitions by next week at the latest.
Here's a lightly edited version of the information sent by TDP:
EXTENDED HOURS AND WEEKEND VOTING PETITIONS
With a petition of 15 voters you may request and get extended hours for early voting during the last week (7 am to 7 pm) and with a second petition you may get Saturday and Sunday early voting.
Please assist in getting these petitions done before mid August. This allows TDP to plan GOTV programs well in advance and it allows your Clerk to know staffing needs in plenty of time.
1) The same voters can sign both petitions.
2) Although 15 registered voters are all that are required, shoot for 25 to be safe.
3) Notify Glen Maxey at TDP when you have turned the petition in to your Early Voting Clerk (your County Clerk or Election Administrator): gmaxey [at] txdemocrats.org
STATUTORY CITATIONS
Sec. 85.005. Regular days and hours for voting. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (c), in an election in which a county … is the early voting clerk under Section 83.002 or 83.005, early voting by personal appearance at the main early voting polling place shall be conducted on the weekdays of the early voting period and during the hours that the county clerk’s … main business office is regularly open for business.
(b) ….
(c) In a county with a population of 100,000 or more, the voting in a … general election for state and county officers shall be conducted at the main early voting polling place for at least 12 hours on each weekday of the last week of the early voting period…. Voting shall be conducted in accordance with this subsection in those elections in a county with a population under 100,000 on receipt by the early voting clerk of a written request for the extended hours submitted by at least 15 registered voters of the county. The request must be submitted in time to enable compliance with Section 85.067.
Sec. 85.006. Voting on Saturday or Sunday. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), the authority ordering an election may order early voting by personal appearance at the main early voting polling place to be conducted on one or more Saturdays or Sundays during the early voting period.
(b) In an election in which a county clerk … is the early voting clerk under Section 83.002 or 83.005, only the early voting clerk may order voting on a Saturday or Sunday. The clerk must do so by written order.
(c) The authority ordering voting on a Saturday or Sunday shall determine the hours during which voting is to be conducted.
(d) The authority authorized to order early voting on a Saturday or Sunday under Subsection (a) or (b) shall order the voting under the applicable subsection on receipt of a written request submitted by at least 15 registered voters of the territory covered by the election. The request must be submitted in time to enable compliance with Section 85.007. The authority is not required to order the voting on a particular date specified by the request but shall order the voting on at least one Saturday if a Saturday is requested and on at least one Sunday if a Sunday is requested.
(e) In a primary election or the general election for state and county officers in a county with a population of 100,000 or more, the early voting clerk shall order personal appearance voting at the main early voting polling place to be conducted for at least 12 hours on the last Saturday and for at least five hours on the last Sunday of the early voting period. The early voting clerk shall order voting to be conducted at those times in those elections in a county with a population under 100,000 on receipt of a written request for those hours submitted by at least 15 registered voters of the county. The request must be submitted in time to enable compliance with Section 85.007. This subsection supersedes any provision of this subchapter to the extent of any conflict.
Here's what the .pdf files sent by TDP look like (I substituted
Signature for
Name and limited signatures to 25 since only 15 are required):
REQUEST FOR EXTENDED WEEKDAY HOURS OF EARLY VOTING
TO: Early Voting Clerk
We, the 15 undersigned registered voters of _________ County, hereby request 12 hours of early voting to be conducted at the main early voting polling place on each weekday of the last week of early voting for the election to be held on November 4, 2014.
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Zip |
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REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL EARLY VOTING ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
TO: Early Voting Clerk
We, the 15 undersigned registered voters of __________ County, hereby request additional early voting to be held on the Saturday and Sunday of the period at the main early polling place for the November 4, 2014 election.
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Signature |
Street Address |
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Zip |
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You may create your own petitions, but you should include all of the language at the top of each form and ensure that voters provide their VUID (Voter Registration Certificate Number) and signature at minimum. (I would use landscape rather than portrait view so that there's more room for each of those columns.) The Texas Secretary of State has provided
forms that may be easier to use if you cannot create your own:
Link to expanded weekday early voting request and
Link to Saturday and Sunday early voting request. Or you may kosmail (message) me with your email address, and I will email those two .pdf files to you.
Here's a list of Texas counties in order by 2010-12 population estimate, and here's a map of where they are. As you can see, the overwhelming majority of counties fall into the "under 100,000" population category. Getting 15 voters per county to sign on for expanded early voting is such an attainable goal! Please share this information widely, so as to reach people in as many of the affected counties as possible.