Here’s why federal monitors will not be at Texas polling places on Election Day

Tuesday is Election Day, and Texas has already seen robust, but not record-breaking, turnout during the early voting period.

Texas’ top elections official has told federal authorities that their plan to send monitors to voting sites on Tuesday in eight counties would violate state law.

“Texas law is clear: Justice Department monitors are not permitted inside a polling place where ballots are being cast or at a central counting station where ballots are being counted,” Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson said in a letter to Jasmyn Richardson, deputy chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division for elections.

The letter was in response to the Justice Department’s announcement last week that it planned to have monitors in 86 jurisdictions across 27 states on Election Day to make sure federal voting rights laws are being followed. The Texas sites would have included polling sites in Harris, Dallas, Bexar and Hays counties.

Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday said his office plans to deploy a special elections unit in several counties to “to monitor day-of election activity” and address any election-related lawsuits that might be filed.

“The Election Day Rapid Response Legal Team will be equipped to enforce Texas election laws and take immediate action on any contingencies, including issues seen in previous cycles such as ballot shortages, extended polling location closures, and improper extension of voting hours,” Paxton’s office said in a news release. “Similarly, the OAG will prepare to take defensive action against activist groups who might attempt to influence the election through litigation.”

What Texas early voting patterns show

Even before the opening of the polls Tuesday, a little more than 9 million Texans had cast ballots either in person or by mail during the early voting period. That’s nearly half of the state’s total registered voters, but the pace lagged behind the 2020 presidential election.

The statewide early turnout, nonetheless, was robust.

“With the exception of 2020, more people have already voted than the total number of people who voted in any previous presidential election,” said Texas voting data expert Derek Ryan, who for the past several elections has provided in-depth analyses of early voting patterns.

More: An ultimate Austin-area voter guide for Election Day on Tuesday in Texas

Four years ago, 11.3 million Texans voted in the general election and about 9.7 million, or 66.7%, cast early ballots, according to Ryan’s data. In 2016, about 60% of the nearly 9 million total voters turned out early.

Ryan said that when the number of likely voters who did not cast early ballots is taken into consideration, an Election Day turnout of 3 million is possible, and that would put the Texas turnout at more than 12 million.

Travis County Clerk Dyana Limon-Mercado said at a news conference Monday that her office is expecting 100,000 to 200,000 people to cast ballots at the county’s 176 voting sites on Election Day.

Any voter who is in line by the 7 p.m. poll-closing time will be able to cast a ballot.

Acceptable forms of ID to bring to the polls

• Texas driver’s license
• Texas election ID certificate
• Texas personal ID card
• Texas handgun license
• U.S. citizenship certificate with photo
• U.S. military ID card with photo
• U.S. passport

What if you have no acceptable ID?

Anyone unable to present one of the forms of ID listed above may fill out a Reasonable Impediment Declaration at the polls and present an alternative form of ID. Alternative forms of ID include the following, whether they are originals or copies:

• A government document that shows the voter’s name and an address, including a voter registration certificate.
• A current utility bill.
• A bank statement.
• A government check.
• A paycheck.
• Either (a) a certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or (b) a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law that establishes the voter’s identity (which may include a foreign birth document).

Staff writer Ella McCarthy contributed to this report.

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