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Tuesday, Oct. 11, is the deadline in Texas to register to vote to have the ability to take part within the 2022 midterm elections, the place voters will forged their ballots on every thing from the gubernatorial race between Gov. Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke to native races for county choose and state consultant.
Texas is one in all a handful of states with a voter registration deadline 30 days earlier than the election. Right here’s what it’s good to find out about checking your standing and registering to vote earlier than the tip of day Tuesday.
Voting FAQ: 2022 midterms
When is the final day to register to vote?
The deadline to register to vote within the 2022 major election is Oct. 11. Test should you’re registered to vote right here. If not, you’ll have to fill out and submit an utility, which you’ll be able to request right here or obtain right here.
When can I vote early?
Early voting runs from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4. Voters can forged ballots at any polling location within the county the place they’re registered to vote throughout early voting. Election day is Nov. 8.
How do I do know if I qualify to vote by mail?
This feature is pretty restricted in Texas. You’re allowed to vote by mail provided that: You’ll be 65 or older by Election Day, you’ll not be in your county for your entire span of voting, together with early voting, you cite a illness or incapacity that forestalls you from voting in individual with no need private help or with out the probability of injuring your well being, you’re anticipated to present beginning inside three weeks earlier than or after Election Day or you might be confined in jail however in any other case eligible (i.e., not convicted of a felony).
Are polling areas the identical on election day as they’re throughout early voting?
Not at all times. You’ll need to test for open polling areas together with your native elections workplace earlier than you head out to vote. Moreover, you may verify together with your county elections workplace whether or not election day voting is restricted to areas in your designated precinct or should you can forged a poll at any polling place.
How can I discover which polling locations are close to me?
County election workplaces are purported to submit on their web sites info on polling areas for Election Day and in the course of the early-voting interval by Oct. 18. The secretary of state’s web site may also have info on polling areas nearer to the beginning of voting. Nonetheless, polling areas might change, so remember to test your county’s election web site earlier than going to vote.
What type of ID do I have to carry to vote?
You’ll want one in all seven kinds of legitimate picture ID to vote in Texas: A state driver’s license, a Texas election identification certificates, a Texas private identification card, a Texas license to hold a handgun, a U.S. navy ID card with a private picture, a U.S. citizenship certificates with a private picture or a U.S. passport. Voters can nonetheless forged votes with out these IDs in the event that they signal a kind swearing that they’ve a “cheap obstacle” from acquiring a correct picture ID or use a provisional poll. Discover extra particulars right here.
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How do I test if I’m registered to vote?
You’ll be able to test to see should you’re registered and confirm your info on the Texas secretary of state’s web site.
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You’ll want one of many following three combos to log in:
Your Texas driver’s license quantity and date of beginning.
Your first and final names, date of beginning and county you reside in.
Your date of beginning and Voter Distinctive Identifier quantity, which seems in your voter registration certificates.
Who can register to vote in Texas?
U.S. residents in Texas can register to vote within the election if they’re 18 or older or if they are going to be 18 by Election Day, which is Nov. 8.
Residents within the state can’t register to vote if they’ve been convicted of a felony and are nonetheless serving a sentence, together with parole or probation, or if they’ve been deemed mentally incapacitated by a court docket. Listed here are extra specifics on eligibility.
What you may anticipate from our elections protection
How we clarify voting
We clarify the voting course of with election-specific voter guides to assist Texans study what’s on the poll and methods to vote. We interview voters, election directors and election legislation specialists in order that we are able to clarify the method, boundaries to participation and what occurs after the vote is over and the counting begins. Learn extra right here.
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As a substitute of letting solely politicians set the agenda, we speak to voters and scrutinize polling knowledge to grasp extraordinary Texans’ high issues. Our readers’ questions and desires assist inform our priorities. We need to hear from readers: What do you higher need to perceive in regards to the election course of in Texas? If native, state or congressional elected officers have been to efficiently tackle one difficulty proper now, what would you need it to be? What’s at stake for you this election cycle? If we’re lacking one thing, that is your likelihood to inform us.
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We don’t merely recount what politicians say, however concentrate on what they do (or fail to do) for the Texans they symbolize. We purpose to supply historic, authorized and different kinds of context so readers can perceive and have interaction with a problem. Reporting on efforts that make voting and interesting in our democracy more durable is a pillar of our accountability work. Learn extra right here.
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We aren’t capable of intently cowl all 150 races within the Texas Home, 31 within the Texas Senate or 38 for the Texas delegation within the subsequent U.S. Home. We have to select what races we cowl intently by utilizing our greatest judgment of what’s most noteworthy. We have in mind components like energy, fairness, curiosity and competitiveness as a way to decide what warrants extra assets and a spotlight. Learn extra right here.
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In reporting on falsehoods and exaggerations, we clearly clarify why it’s unfaithful and the way it might hurt Texans. Typically, we select to not write about misinformation as a result of that may assist amplify it. We’re extra more likely to debunk falsehoods when they’re unfold by elected officers or used as a justification for coverage selections. Learn extra right here.
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How do I register to vote?
You’ll have to fill out and submit a paper voter registration utility by Oct. 11.
You’ll be able to request a postage-paid utility by means of the mail or discover one at county voter registrars’ workplaces and a few submit workplaces, authorities workplaces or excessive colleges. It’s also possible to print out the net utility and mail it to the voter registrar in your county.
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Functions have to be postmarked by the Oct. 11 deadline. Obtain your utility right here.
Moreover, you may register to vote by means of the Texas Division of Public Security whereas renewing your driver’s license, even should you’re doing so on-line. That is the one type of on-line registration within the state.
After you register to vote, you’ll obtain a voter registration certificates inside 30 days. It’ll comprise your voter info, together with the Voter Distinctive Identifier quantity wanted to replace your voter registration on-line. If the certificates has incorrect info, you’ll want to notice corrections and ship it to your native voter registrar as quickly as attainable.
The voter registration certificates may also be used as a secondary type of ID while you vote should you don’t have one of many seven state-approved picture IDs. Extra data on that right here.
What if I’ve moved?
You have to reside in a Texas county by the voter registration deadline to vote within the upcoming election except you qualify for absentee voting. You’ll be able to learn extra about absentee and mail-in voting right here.
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School college students who’re registered at a residence in Texas, similar to a mother or father’s dwelling, however are learning out of state can apply for absentee ballots. College students learning in Texas who’re from different states also can select to register to vote within the state with their dorm or Texas tackle.
Eligible individuals experiencing homelessness can vote, so long as they supply on their registration an tackle and outline for the place they’re residing. If wanted, their mailing tackle could be totally different, however a P.O. field tackle can’t be listed as a residence tackle.
Tuesday can also be the final day to submit an tackle change for the midterm elections. You’ll be able to report an tackle or identify change on-line. You need to do that should you’ve moved because the final time you voted, particularly when you’ve got moved to a distinct county or political subdivision or have legally taken a distinct identify.
What do I do if I run into points with my voter registration?
If a county suspects you might have modified tackle however your registration has not been up to date, chances are you’ll be be positioned on a “suspense record.” Voters positioned on the suspense record can nonetheless vote in the event that they replace or verify their tackle earlier than the voter registration deadline for an election or fill out a “assertion of residence” when voting, however they might must vote at their earlier polling location or vote on a restricted poll.
Restricted ballots can be found solely throughout early voting at a “principal early voting polling place,” which is normally the workplace of the elections administrator or county clerk who runs elections in your county. The principle early voting polling place ought to be famous in a county’s record of early voting areas.
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Whereas the state conducts critiques of voter rolls to take away what officers suspect is likely to be ineligible registrations, federal legislation prevents the state from eradicating registered voters inside 90 days of a federal election except the voter has died, been convicted of a felony or been declared mentally incapacitated.
If in case you have questions or issues about your registration, you could find your county’s voter registration contact right here.
Inside polling areas, there are usually “decision desks” the place ballot staff can tackle registration points.
It’s also possible to discover extra info on regularly requested questions from the secretary of state’s workplace at votetexas.gov.
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Disclosure: The Texas secretary of state has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partly by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no function within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full record of them right here.
We’re testing using AI-powered tools to provide an audio version of this story. While this audio recording is machine-generated, the story was written by human journalists. Read more on our AI policy.
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Texas’ most populous cities lost roughly 88 billion gallons of water last year because of aging water infrastructure and extreme heat, costing them millions of dollars and straining the state’s water supply, according to self-reported water loss audits.
The documents show that bigger municipalities are not immune to water issues often seen in smaller, less-resourced communities around the state. All but one big city saw increased water loss from last year’s audits.
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While cities are losing water because of inaccurate meters or other data issues, the main factors are leaks and main breaks.
Here’s how much each of Texas’ biggest cities lost last year, according to their self-reported audits:
Houston: 31.8 billion
San Antonio: 19.5 billion
Dallas: 17.6 billion
Austin: 7.1 billion
Fort Worth: 5.9 billion
El Paso: 4.8 billion
Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso must submit water loss audits to the Texas Water Development Board yearly. Other water agencies must do audits only every five years, unless the city has over 3,300 connections or receives money from the board.
“What we have right now is not sustainable [or] tenable,” said Jennifer Walker, National Wildlife Federation’s Texas Coast and Water Program director.
The cities of Houston and Dallas saw the biggest increase in lost water reported. Houston saw a 30% jump from last year’s audit, while Dallas saw an increase of 18%.
Houston is the largest populous city in the state, home to roughly 2.3 million Texans; it lost around 31 billion gallons of water last year.
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Houston Public Works blames the region’s long drought from June 2022 to December last year for the increase. Droughts cause clay in soil to dry up and shrink, stressing older water lines and making them more likely to break and leak. Officials said this, combined with aging infrastructure, led to a significant increase in water leaks across the city.
“HPW will continue to pursue all funding options available to help replace aging infrastructure,” the Houston spokesperson said.
Aging infrastructure isn’t only a Houston problem. Dallas officials said they only expected a roughly 4% increase in water loss in 2023. They saw a double-digit increase instead.
A Dallas Water Utilities spokesperson said the city is investigating the cause of the increase and “reviewing records to ensure all allowable unbilled/unmetered authorized uses were properly accounted for in the 2023 calculation.”
On the other side of North Texas, Fort Worth saw an increase from 5.6 billion gallons lost in 2022 to 5.9 billion gallons in 2023, losing Cowtown more than $8 million.
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Walker, from the National Wildlife Federation, said numbers are also rising because cities are getting more accurate in reporting water loss.
Fort Worth has a “MyH2O program” that replaced all manual read meters with remote read meters and implemented a Real Water Loss Management Plan in 2020 to focus the city efforts related to leak surveys, leak detection and the creation of district metering areas.
“It is actually a testament to how we are using available data to make better decisions and improve reporting with a higher level of confidence,” said Fort Worth Water Conservation Manager Micah Reed.
Last year, voters passed a proposition that created a new fund specifically for water infrastructure projects that are overseen by the Texas Water Development Board.
The agency now has $1 billion to invest in projects that address various issues, from water loss and quality to acquiring new water sources and addressing Texas’ deteriorating pipes. It’s the largest investment in water infrastructure by state lawmakers since 2013.
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Walker calls the $1 billion a “drop in the bucket.”
Texas 2036, an Austin-based think tank, expects the state needs to spend more than $150 billion over the next 50 years on water infrastructure.
While some of the Texas Water Fund must be focused on projects in rural areas with populations of less than 150,000, Walker said the bigger cities could also receive some funding.
In San Antonio, the San Antonio Water System isn’t “waiting for [the state] to come and tackle the problem for us.”
The city lost around 19 billion gallons of water in 2023 and has seen an increase over the last five years.
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“We’re in a state that doesn’t even fund public education,” said Robert Puente, president and CEO of the San Antonio Water System. “So good luck to us getting some money from the state on these issues.”
Earlier this week, the SAWS board of trustees unanimously approved a new five-year water conservation plan.
The city of Austin lost around 7 billion gallons of water in 2023.
Austin has hired a consultant to review our water loss practices and metrics, according to city officials. The capital city is also in the process of replacing water mains around Austin.
Walker said while Texas lawmakers should invest more money in water infrastructure, city officials also need to hire more staff and better planning to address water loss.
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The one city that lost less water in 2023 was El Paso, which reported losing 475 million fewer gallons last year. Since El Paso is in the desert, water conservation and having a “watertight” infrastructure is the city’s main focus, said Aide Fuentes, El Paso Wastewater Treatment Manager.
“That makes us a little bit different from the rest of Texas in that sense,” Fuentes said.
El Paso Water officials aim to reduce water loss by 10%.
Walker said the data shows that cities should make the case to the state lawmakers to continue to address water Infrastructure in the next legislative session. She added this issue isn’t going away.
“We really need [to] try to live with what we have and not lose the water that we already have in place and make sure that it’s reaching its intended destination,” Walker said.
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Disclosure: San Antonio Water System and Texas 2036 have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
A shark bit three people off a southern Texas beach in what the city’s fire chief called an unprecedented incident on the Fourth of July, the same day another person was bitten by a shark in Florida, officials said.
In Texas, three people were bitten in the city of South Padre Island, on a barrier island near Brownsville, and the shark was later located and “pushed out to deeper water,” Fire Chief Jim Pigg said.
“It’s unprecedented here on South Padre Island,” he said. There were two shark bite incidents at different times and locations Thursday, he said.
Police responded to a 911 call that reported “a severe shark bite to the leg” at 11 a.m., city spokesperson Nikki Soto said, and the victim was taken to a local hospital.
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After a second 911 call about a shark attack, firefighters found two people who had been bitten by a shark, Pigg said. They were also taken to a hospital.
Kyle Jud, 46, said he saw a woman pulled from the water who appeared to have a bite to a leg.
“Beach patrol lifted her up — her calf was just gone, shredded. Horrific,” Jud said. He posted video of a shark in the water as a helicopter and a boat patrolled.
One of the victims was flown out of a Brownsville hospital for further treatment, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said.
“Shark encounters of this nature are not a common occurrence in Texas,” the department said. “When bites from sharks do occur, they are usually a case of mistaken identity by sharks looking for food.”
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Pigg said that it has not been determined what type of shark was involved and that an investigation was underway.
Lifeguards were encouraging people in South Padre Island, a beach town of around 2,000 on the barrier island of the same name, to stay out of the water or at least to go no further than knee-deep, Pigg said.
After the shark was spotted and pushed out to deeper water, there had been no further sightings, but Pigg said officials would stay vigilant.
South Padre Island Mayor Patrick McNulty said, “Our hearts and prayers are with the injured and their families and we hope for a speedy recovery.”
In New Smyrna Beach, Florida, a 21-year-old man was bitten by a shark while he was playing football in knee-deep water around 4 p.m., said Tamra Malphurs, interim director of Volusia County Beach Safety.
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The man, who was visiting the city on the Atlantic coast from Ohio, was taken to a hospital, and his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, Malphurs said.
There were 36 unprovoked shark attacks against humans in the U.S. last year, and two of those people died, the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File said in its most recent annual report.
The project, which documents shark attacks around the world, says that the risk of being attacked by a shark is relatively very small but that swimmers can minimize their risk even further by staying in groups and closer to shore.
With all the chaos surrounding Jim Schlossnagle’s semi-disastrous exit to head the Texas Longhorns baseball program just a day after Texas A&M’s College World Series Finals loss to Tennessee, Aggies athletic director Trev Alberts was determined to find his successor much sooner than later.
Just five days later, it was announced after interviewing nearly a dozen candidates that former hitting coach Michael Earley, who tentatively followed Schlossnagle to Austin, was hired as A&M’s 21st head coach in program history following an impressive interview coupled with current players, prospects and fellow coaches immense respect what he brings to the table.
Needing a reliable coaching staff to get him through the ups and downs of his inaugural campaign, it has been announced that two key assistant coaches have officially been hired: new associate head coach/pitching coach Jason Kelly and new recruiting director/hitting coach Caleb Longley.
Longley has spent the majority of his coaching career at Texas in the same capacity as his new duties with Texas A&M. During the 2022 season, he helped the Longhorns hit a program record 128 home runs while helping sign the No. 3-ranked 2024 recruiting class last offseason.
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Jason Kelly’s coaching career has been fast and furious, serving as a pitching coach since 2003, and like Longley, was Arizona State’s pitching coach from 2020-2021 during the time that both Earley and Longley were on the Sun Devils staff. During his six-year run as Washington’s pitching coach, Kelly was named D1Baseball.com’s Assistant Coach of the Year during the program’s only College World Series appearance.
Before becoming LSU head coach Jay Johnson’s first hire during his transition to LSU, Kelly’s brief stint as Washington’s head coach was an immediate success. He led the Huskies to an NCAA Regional appearance during the 2023 season.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.