TYLER, Texas — The stage is set for the 2024 presidential election and voters will be making their way to the polls in no time.
Election officials want to make sure you know the latest updates to polling locations and procedures in East Texas.
Smith County Election Administrator Michelle Allcon said East Texans can expect to see federal offices, state offices and local offices on the ballot.
A relatively new law that voters should know about is no more straight-ticket voting.
“That is something that people are used to when you've been voting for 30 years, and you're used to walking into the polling place and selecting all this party, or all this party, and it selects those and then you're done. We no longer do that,” Gregg County Election Administrator Jennifer Briggs said.
Voters will have to select each candidate individually or have the opportunity to skip, which is something officials say it can be more time consuming.
“Will take a little bit extra time, yes, because you do have to go through each each race,” Allcon said.
Allson said voters can expect to see a few new polling locations in Smith County this election season.
“We will be increasing the number of polling locations for early voting for the presidential election,” Allcon said. “We normally have five locations. This year due to the construction here downtown. We've had six, but we are actually increasing that to eight.”
When heading to the polls this November, make sure to have a picture ID for proof of identification and your address is up to date.
“If you do not update your address, and we send out a voter registration card to you, your voter certificate or any type of mail, and it comes back to us as undeliverable, it puts that person in a suspended status,” Briggs said.
As for mail-in ballots, only select voters qualify. This includes those who are 65 and older, those with a disability, people out of the country, or if someone are expected to give birth within three weeks.
For more information about polling locations, visit people should visit their county’s voting website.