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What Texans need to know about mail-in ballots

Voter turnout is expected to be high on Election Day, so many voters are requesting mail-in ballots to avoid the lines.

DALLAS — Voter turnout is expected to be high on Election Day, so many voters are requesting mail-in ballots to avoid the lines.

Taylor Alexander is from Dallas, but at college in Georgia, so she's voting by mail and requested her ballot months ago.

"To be able to vote in something this big, it does feel really exciting,” said Alexander.

She said she tried to vote with an absentee ballot in the last major election - the Senate Race in 2018 - but couldn't.

"I tried to do voting in that and I waited too late because I tried absentee ballot and I made some errors,” Alexander said.

Election officials say a lot of people wait too late.

They say the earlier you can request your ballot, the better.

"The rule of thumb is, don't wait till the last day because that is really tight to be able to get a ballot to process to you and for you to get it back to us in the mail in time,” said Collin County Election Administrator Bruce Sherbet.

One of the ways to request your ballot is online. You fill out your request online and then email it in.

"If you are emailing your application for mail-in ballot you have to follow up with a hard copy within four business days after you emailed the application,” Sherbet said.

You have to still send in a hard copy of your application and it has to be signed in ink. It cannot be a photocopy. A ballot will then be mailed to you.

Once you fill it out you have to mail it to your early voting clerk in your county.

it has to be postmarked by Election Day and will only be counted if it arrives before 5 p.m. the next day.

Again, the earlier you can do all this, the better. There will also be 17 days of early voting where you can go in person and avoid the lines. 

To be eligible to vote by mail in Texas you have to be 65 years old, be sick or disabled, be out of the county on Election Day and during the period for early voting by personal appearance, or be confined in jail, but otherwise eligible.

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