Texas voter registration deadline passed October 5—what voters should know now

October 7, 2026
2 mins read
A secured ballot box situated inside an official election polling station.
A ballot box at a polling location. [Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0]

The voter registration deadline for the November 3, 2026 Texas election was October 5. If you did not submit a completed paper application by yesterday’s deadline, you cannot vote in November. The next opportunity for Texas residents to act is early voting, which begins October 19.

Texas law sets a registration cutoff 30 days before each statewide election. For the November 3, 2026 midterm, that deadline fell on October 5, 2026. Texas does not offer general online voter registration — paper applications must be completed, signed, and either hand-delivered to the county registrar or postmarked by the deadline. Some voters with existing records may interact with state DPS systems for limited registration-related updates, but first-time registration still requires a completed paper form.

This distinction catches many voters: filling out a form on a third-party registration website is not a completed registration in Texas. Those digital submissions are not valid until the form is physically printed, signed, and mailed or hand-delivered with a valid postmark.

For voters who are already registered, verify your registration status at the Texas Secretary of State’s My Voter Portal at teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov using your driver’s license number, VUID, or name and date of birth. Early voting runs October 19 through October 30. Election Day is November 3, 2026, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

*Can you register to vote in Texas online?* Texas does not offer general online voter registration. First-time registration requires a paper application to be completed, signed, and delivered to your county registrar or postmarked by the 30-day-before-election deadline.

County registrar office locations are available by searching your county name and “voter registrar” — Travis County covers Austin, Harris County covers Houston.

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