Houston, TX – Friday, October 28 is the deadline for voters eligible to vote by mail to submit their applications for the November 8 Election. This does not apply to anyone who successfully completed an application earlier in 2022 and requested they receive mail ballots for all elections this year. 

The new state law requires voters to provide their Texas driver’s license number, Texas ID number, or the last four digits of their social security number in the appropriate fields on their application. Here is an instructional video available for download outlining these steps. Failure to provide an exact match on the application to what is on your voter record could result in the application being flagged for correction. 

Below are some helpful voter tips to avoid delays in successfully applying: 

• Call Harris County Elections at (713) 755-6965. The voter services team is dedicated to walking voters through the process of filling out mail ballots. There are operators who are fluent in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese. 
• Provide both forms of ID. Even though the directions only asks for one, the best way to ensure your application isn’t rejected is to provide both a Texas DL/ID and the last four digits of your Social Security number. 
• Provide a contact email or phone number on your application so our team can immediately reach out and address any issues with the application to minimize potential delays. 

When returning the mail ballot, voters will place their ballot into the green secrecy envelope, and then place the secrecy envelope into the purple mail carrier envelope. Before sealing the mail carrier envelope, voters will need to complete the identification fields under the flap. Similar to the application, our office recommends voters to provide both ID numbers. (Here is an instructional video for this process.) After sealing the envelope, voters need to sign in the red box over the flap. 

IMPORTANT: Harris County’s ballot is the longest in the state, and one of the longest in the country. For this reason, voters returning their mail ballot through mail carrier will need two forever stamps on their purple mail carrier envelope, and must have it postmarked by Tuesday, November 8. It will need to be received by the Elections Administration by 5 p.m. on November 9. Instructions regarding postage are included in the mail ballot package. 

If mail ballot voters choose to return their mail ballot in-person, they may only do so on Election Day at NRG Arena, Hall D (1 NRG Parkway, Houston, Texas 77054) before 7 p.m. The voter must be present with their ID when returning their mail ballot. 

For more information, including sample ballots and polling locations, visit HarrisVotes.com in the coming weeks and follow @HarrisVotes on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Call Harris County Elections at (713) 755-6965.