Know before you go: Early voting reminders, turnout expectations

Early voting begins Monday and the El Paso County Elections Department is sharing why this upcoming election is important for you to participate in and what turnout they're expecting.

While Election Day is Nov. 3, the elections department says you have two weeks from now to make time and get your vote in, and that includes Saturdays and Sundays.

There will be less lines in these two weeks than on Election Day, so don't risk not being able to vote last-minute.

As of Oct. 19, there are over 540,700 registered voters in the county.

The department is noticing higher interest in this election compared to the last midterm and primary election, with an increase of 10,000 registration applications for the last primary election.

They say the state races for governor and senator are what's peaking voters' interest this time.

But, one of their coordinators says other races need equal attention.

"We always say that the ballot is what drives the voters to the polls," says Melissa Martin with the El Paso County Elections Department. "We have the school districts, we have also the cities and water districts. You know, local elections always matter."

Martin also says it is a lengthy ballot and they want voters to be prepared before they head to the polls.

Voters can always review a sample ballot, print it and take it to the polls. 

You need to bring one of the accepted forms of photo I.D., including:

• Texas driver’s license
• U.S. citizenship certificate or certificate of naturalization
• U.S. passport book or card

After what happened in the primary election this year, the El Paso County Elections Department did a log and accuracy test last week on electronic pollbook equipment.

It's to make sure that essential devices are working properly and ballot styles are correctly assigned to voters.

"Everything is running smoothly on our end, everything is going to be ready. You know, we are currently also training our poll workers," says Martin. "

The first day of early voting, Oct. 19 and the last day, Oct. 30, is expected to be the busiest.

You can vote at any of the early voting locations, most of them open as early as 8 a.m.

They have wait times available on their website as well.

Find the list of locations, here.