Are you registered?

You may have heard there’s an election coming up on Nov. 5. If you want to vote, state law requires you to register 30 days prior to the election in which you want to participate, which this year is Oct. 7. This means that if you are not a registered voter by Oct. 7, you won’t be able to cast your vote.

Fortunately, there is still plenty of time to make a plan and either update your registration if you have moved to a new address, are new to the state or have never registered before. Remember, you can’t cast your ballot unless you’re officially registered, so don’t miss the deadline!

Voter Eligibility Requirements

You may register to vote if you fulfill all of the following requirements:

• You are a U.S. citizen
• You are at least 17 years, 10 months of age (to vote, you must be 18)
• You have not been declared totally mentally incapacitated or partially mentally incapacitated without the right to vote by a final judgment of a court exercising probate jurisdiction
• You are not finally convicted of a felony, or, if so convicted must have (1) fully discharged the sentence, including any term of incarceration, parole, or supervision, or completed a period of probation ordered by any court; or (2) been pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disability to vote

How to register

Texas does not allow for online voter registration, but there are other ways to register:

• You can download, print, and mail and application, which must be postmarked by Oct. 7. Applications are available in English(PDF document), Spanish(PDF document) and Vietnamese(PDF document).
• You can request an application by phone at (469) 627-8683
• You can register in person in your county office
• You can pick up an application at your local tax office, library and other government offices

Once you are registered, you will receive your voter registration certificate via mail. The certificates are yellow and are valid from the date of your registration through Dec. 31, 2025. You will get a new certificate every year while your registration remains active.

What is suspense?

The term Suspense usually refers to voters whose current address is not up-to-date in the state’s voter registrar system. A voter’s name may be added to the suspense list if they fail to respond to an address confirmation notice sent by the county where the voter last resided. Notices are triggered by the following circumstances:

• If a voter’s name appears on the list of nonresidents from the jury service office, or
• If a voter’s registration certificate is returned via mail to our department.

 For information on how to update your voter registration, visit https://www.votetexas.gov/. Information should be updated by the Oct. 7 registration deadline.

 Source: Dallas County Elections and dallascountyvotes.org