Texas officials say they’ve scrubbed the voter rolls. Here’s how to check if you’re still on them.

Once you register to vote, you generally remain registered, but there are various reasons why you may want to verify your registration status, especially if you’ve had a name or address change. You can make those updates online here.

You can check to see if you’re registered and verify your information through the Texas Secretary of State’s website.

You’ll need one of the following three combinations to log in:

• Your Texas driver’s license number and date of birth.
• Your first and last names, date of birth and county you reside in.
• Your date of birth and Voter Unique Identifier Number, which appears on your voter registration certificate.

When a person submits a voter registration application, county and state officials verify the person’s eligibility using various sources, including birth and death certificates and the courts system.

Local election officials will review the application to make sure the submitted address is a residential location within the county. They share voter registration records with the state daily. The state also reviews the voter registration before it becomes effective. Registered voters are sent a registration certificate within 30 days and it becomes effective 30 days after it is submitted.

Voters receive a new certificate if they update their name or address. Otherwise, voters are sent a new certificate every two years, according to the state.

If a county voter registrar receives a nondeliverable notice after sending a voter registration certificate or receives information that there’s been an address change, a voter is placed on the state’s “suspense list” and asked to confirm their address. Sometimes this can be due to errors at the post office or when a jury summons doesn’t go to the proper address and is returned, said Trudy Hancock, the elections administrator for Brazos County.

Voters on the suspense list can still vote as normal if they update or confirm their address before the voter registration deadline or fill out a “statement of residence” when voting. But if they have moved to a different county or precinct, they may have to vote at their previous polling location or vote a limited ballot.

If a suspended voter takes no action, they are removed from the voter rolls after about four years, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s office.

You must complete and submit a paper voter registration application by Oct. 7.

There are several options to submit an application by the deadline:

• Visit the voter registrar office in your county (find yours here)
• Register through a volunteer deputy voter registrar (organizations like local chapters of the League of Women Voters often hold voter registration events)
• Mail the application to the voter registrar in your county

If you decide to mail an application, it must be postmarked by the Oct. 7 deadline for you to vote in the Nov. 5 election. You can request the postmark through employees at your local post office.

You can find an application at county voter registrars’ offices and some post offices, government offices, or high schools. You can also print out the online application and mail it to the voter registrar in your county. This will require an envelope and postage like regular mail. Download your application here. You can request a postage-paid application through the mail, but this may require some time for you to receive.

If your application is postmarked by Oct. 7 it will count toward the Nov. 5 deadline, even if it is received afterwards. To avoid any issues, some local voter registrars recommend completing or delivering an application in person if you're registering close to the deadline.

Additionally, you can register to vote through the Texas Department of Public Safety while renewing your driver’s license. You may be able to register to vote online if you’re also allowed to renew your license online. This is the only form of online registration in the state.

You must reside in a Texas county by the voter registration deadline to vote in the upcoming election. Voters who are 65 or older, have a disability or will be absent during the entire voting period, such as members of the military of voters living overseas, qualify for an absentee ballot. You can read more about absentee and mail-in voting here.

If you are a registered voter but moved after the Oct. 7 deadline, you can vote at your previous polling location if you moved within the same county or political subdivision. Or you can vote at your new polling location, but the ballot will only include races available to voters in both your new and old political districts, such as statewide races. Limited ballots are available only during early voting at a “main early voting polling place.” Those are usually the office of the election administrator or county clerk who runs elections in your county. The main polling place should be noted in a county’s list of early voting locations.

If you have questions or concerns about your registration, you can find your county’s voter registration contact here.

Inside polling locations, there are typically “resolution desks” where poll workers can address registration issues. If you believe you should be registered but don’t appear on the voter registration list at the polls, you can cast a provisional ballot. There’s no guarantee that a provisional ballot will ultimately be counted. The best bet to ensure you don’t have problems is verifying your registration is active and up-to-date ahead of the Oct. 7 deadline to register to vote.

Your local voter registrar must review the provisional ballot and verify your registration within six days of the election. The registrar then passes that information to the local ballot board, which decides whether the provisional ballot is eligible to be counted under election laws, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s voter education website.

Provisional voters must be sent a notice if their ballot was rejected no later than 10 days after Election Day.

You can also find more information on frequently asked questions from the Secretary of State’s Office at votetexas.gov.

If you need help navigating voting issues, a coalition of voting rights groups has a helpline at 866-687-8683. The Texas Secretary of State’s office has a helpline at 1-800-252-8683.

Correction, Nov. 5, 2024 at 12:05 p.m.: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated provisional voters must be sent a notice if their ballot was rejected no later than 10 days after the election is certified.