Where, when and how to vote in Ellis County

Early voting: Oct. 19 – Oct. 30

Ellis County votes at vote centers: any registered Ellis County voter can vote at any of the county's five early-voting sites. They're open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, through Friday, Oct. 23; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24; 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25; and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, through Friday, Oct. 30.

The main early-voting site is the library at the Waxahachie ISD Old High School, 1000 N. Highway 77, Waxahachie. The others are the Ellis County Sub-Courthouse in Ennis, the Midlothian Conference Center, the Palmer ISD Annex Building and the Red Oak Municipal Center.

The Elections Department says it will post wait times for each site on its Upcoming Elections page once voting begins; this guide doesn't show them.

Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3

On Election Day you can vote at any of the county's 30 vote centers, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you're in line by 7 p.m., you can vote. Enter your address in the guide above to find the vote centers nearest you.

Your address decides which races are on your ballot, wherever you vote. Find yours among the county's sample ballots by precinct. Part of the county is in State Senate District 2 and part in District 22; District 22 voters also choose someone to serve the rest of that seat's current term.

Cedar Hill, Ferris, Glenn Heights, Grand Prairie, Mansfield, Ovilla and Venus each lie partly in Ellis County and partly in a neighboring county. Your county, not your city, runs your election: if your home is outside Ellis County, find your county's elections office on the Texas Secretary of State's list.

Voting by mail

Texas lets you vote by mail only if one of these applies:

• You're 65 or older on Election Day
• You're sick or disabled
• You'll be outside Ellis County on Election Day and throughout early voting
• You expect to give birth within three weeks before or after Election Day
• You're in jail but otherwise eligible to vote
• You're certified in the Texas attorney general's Address Confidentiality Program and registered in person
• You're under a civil commitment order to live in a Texas Civil Commitment Office facility

Your application must reach the Elections Office by 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, when the office closes. Mail it to the Early Voting Clerk, 204 E. Jefferson St., Waxahachie, TX 75165. You can also fax it to 972-923-5194 or email a scan to elections@elliscountytx.gov, but then the original must arrive by mail within four business days.

Mail your voted ballot so it's postmarked by 7 p.m. on Election Day and arrives by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4; a ballot with no postmark must arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Or hand-deliver it yourself, with an accepted photo ID (or, if you can't reasonably get one, a supporting document and a signed Reasonable Impediment Declaration), to the Elections Office at 204 E. Jefferson St. in Waxahachie on Election Day only, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. You must deliver your own ballot. Vote centers do not accept mail ballots.

The county says the secrecy envelope was left out of the first batch of mail-ballot packets, mailed Sept. 23. If yours came without one, you can put your ballot straight into the carrier envelope, or into an envelope of your own inside it; the county says that alone won't affect whether your ballot counts. To get a secrecy envelope anyway, call 972-825-5195 or email elections@elliscountytx.gov (the county's notice).

If there's a problem with your mail ballot, such as a missing or mismatched ID number, the county will tell you how to fix it. You have until Monday, Nov. 9. Track your mail ballot in the Texas Secretary of State's ballot tracker.

What to bring

Bring one of these photo IDs. If you're 18 to 69, it can be expired for up to four years; if you're 70 or older, it can be expired for any length of time.

• Texas driver's license
• Texas Election Identification Certificate
• Texas personal ID card
• Texas handgun license
• U.S. military ID card with your photo
• U.S. citizenship certificate with your photo
• U.S. passport (book or card)

No photo ID? If you have a reasonable impediment to getting one, you can show a supporting document, such as your voter registration certificate, a utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck, and sign a Reasonable Impediment Declaration at the vote center. Otherwise you can vote a provisional ballot; it counts only if you then show an accepted ID to the county voter registrar within six days, by Monday, Nov. 9.

Phones aren't allowed in the polling place or within 100 feet of the voting stations, so print your sample ballot or write down your choices if you want them with you.

Getting there

No fixed-route bus or rail service runs in Ellis County, so the guide lists no transit stops. The directions links open your maps app.

Accessibility

Every vote center's ES&S ExpressVote machines offer audio through headphones, larger type, a tactile device, and the ballot in Spanish, on screen and in audio. If you can't go inside without help or risk to your health, you can vote curbside: park at the "Curbside Voting" sign and press the button there to call an election worker. If you're coming alone, the county suggests calling ahead at 972-825-5195, ext. 2. You can bring someone to help you vote, as long as it isn't your employer, an agent of your employer, or an officer or agent of your union.

More on voting with a disability from the Elections Department.

About this guide

Sites, hours, precincts and districts come from the Ellis County Elections Department; map geography from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Dallas Standard is not affiliated with the Elections Department. Confirm details at elliscountytx.gov/elections.