Comic Con Costumes
Our favorite costumes from Austin's Wizard World Comic Con
Nov 26, 2013 | 9:06 am
Photo by Daniel Cavazos
voting news
It's almost time for Texans to cast their ballots in the May 4 election. Voters will have the opportunity to make their voices heard on local contests, bond proposals and more.
If you live in Travis County, you can check here; for Williamson County voters, a sample ballot can be found here; and for Hays County voters, you can view a sample ballot here.
Here is everything you need to know about voting in the May 4 election, from polling locations to what you may see on your ballot.
Registered and eligible Texas voters may vote at any early voting location located in the county in which they live.
Early voting locations were populated through the Vote Texas website two days before the first day of early voting. All voters had to do is plug in their information in order to find polling locations.
Early voting for the May 4 election will be held from Monday, April 22, through Tuesday, April 30. During early voting, polling place hours varied at each location.
On Election Day, May 4, things work a little differently.
You will want to see if the county you live in participates in the Countywide Polling Place Program (CWPP). If your county does participate in CWPP, you can vote at any polling place in the county. If your county doesn't participate in CWPP, you can only vote at the polling place assigned to you on Election Day.
On Election Day, all polling places across Texas are open from 7 am to 7 pm. As long as you get in line before 7 pm, you will be able to vote.
If you submitted a ballot by mail, you can check its status using this tracker.
What you need to bring to vote
To vote in Texas, you need to have a form of identification when you go to cast your ballot at a polling location. Here is a list of acceptable forms of photo identification:
If you don't have one of the forms of ID listed above and can't reasonably obtain one, you can bring one of the following in order to execute a "Reasonable Impediment Declaration":
Reminder: cellphones are not allowed inside polling locations. Voters can, however, print a copy of their sample ballot and bring it with them to the polls.
What will be on the ballot?
Ahead of the election, you can look up a sample ballot for your county.
If you live in Travis County, you can check here; for Williamson County voters, a sample ballot can be found here; and for Hays County voters, you can view a sample ballot here.
Here's a breakdown of some of the major races in our area this election.
Travis County
For the first time, Texans living in counties with a population of 75,000 or more will elect three people to their appraisal district board of directors. This is a result of the changes Texas lawmakers made to the tax code with Senate Bill 2, which was passed in the second special session of the 88th Texas Legislature. An appraisal district board of directors oversees the operations of the appraisal district, which is responsible for appraising property for property taxes.
An appraisal district board of directors oversees the operations of the appraisal district, which is responsible for appraising property for property taxes.
In Travis County, some familiar faces are running for each of the three director positions on the Travis Central Appraisal District Board of Directors.
Former Austin City Councilmember and director of the Travis County Taxpayers Union Don Zimmerman is facing off against Jett Hanna, a member of the Texas Supreme County Professional Ethics Committee.
Travis County GOP Chairman Matt Mackowiak is running for Place 2, along with attorney Shenghao “Daniel” Wang and Jonathan Patschke, who is the treasurer of the Libertarian Party of Travis County.
Dick Lavine, a board member of Progress Texas and and the senior financial analyst of Every Texan, is facing Bill May in the race for Place 3.
City of Austin
Residents living in several neighborhoods that were annexed by the city of Austin want to be disannexed from the city. The disannexation propositions on the ballot are:
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Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.