Election day information for El Paso and Dona Ana County

EL PASO COUNTY

WHERE TO VOTE

Texans must vote at their assigned precincts on November 8.

If you have one, bring one of the following. The ID must be current, or be expired for less than 4 years:

Texas driver license issued by the Department of Public Safety Texas election ID certificate Texas personal ID card Texas license to carry a handgun US military ID card with your photograph US citizenship certificate containing your photograph (doesn’t need to be current) US passport

If you don’t have any of these, you’ll need to (1) sign a sworn statement that there is a reason why you don’t have any of the IDs listed above, and (2) bring one of the following:

Valid voter registration certificate Certified birth certificate Current utility bill Government check Paystub or bank statement that includes your name and address Copy of or original government document with your name and an address (original required if it contains a photograph).

To find your assigned polling site, click here.

VOTING RULES

No electioneering and loitering within 100 feet of the entrance of the building in which a polling place is located. Examples of electioneering include, but are not limited to the following:

— wearing or exhibiting a badge, insignia, emblem, or other similar communicative device item relating to a candidate, measure or political party.

NOTE: An election judge, an election clerk, a state or federal election inspector, a certified peace officer, or a special peace officer appointed for the polling place by the presiding judge shall wear while on duty in the area is required to wear a tag or official badge that indicates their name and title or position.

— unauthorized posting of signs, posters or other similar items.

NOTE: A candidate in an election commits a Class C misdemeanor if he or she is in the polling place for a purpose other than (1) voting or (2) official business in the building in which the polling place is located; however, a candidate may assist a voter without violating this section.

EXCEPTION: It is a defense to prosecution if the candidate is (1) not in plain view of persons in the voting area or the area where voters are being qualified and (2) not engaged in campaign activity.

BALLOT SELFIE

Although the law in Texas is unclear, photography is not allowed within 100-feet of polling stations. So, no voting selfies. Although, photos of mail-in ballots are ok.

VOTING CONCERNS

A federal appeals court ruled this summer that the state’s 2011 voter ID law discriminated against minorities and the poor, ordering officials to relax the ID requirements for the November election. Experts had said the law was among the toughest in the nation, requiring voters to show one of seven acceptable forms of photo identification that included a concealed handgun license but not a college student ID.

It was estimated that more than 600,000 registered voters in Texas lacked an acceptable ID under the law. And there were early signs that confusion surrounding the law has persisted, with reports during early voting of at least seven counties with outdated posters and poll workers saying photo IDs were required to vote.

A federal judge in September had said Texas officials must change the voter outreach efforts after the Justice Department accused the state of still giving the impression that some voters cannot cast a ballot.

TEXAS TRUMPED?

Talk of Hillary Clinton getting within striking distance of Donald Trump in Texas has evaporated down the stretch with good reason. A Democrat hasn’t carried the state since Jimmy Carter in 1976, and Republican nominees have coasted to double-digit statewide victory every presidential election since 2000.

Tellingly, Clinton never spent valuable crunch time campaigning in Texas. And her top surrogates, including Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton, went to battleground states like North Carolina and Arizona, rather than here.

TURNOUT TURNAROUND

Long plagued by some of the nation’s lowest turnout rates, Texas should surpass its 2008 record of 8 million voters. Texas has exceeded 15.1 million registered voters for the first time, with nearly a million new registrants just since the March primary. And like much of the nation, Texas smashed records for early voting turnout.

Almost 4.5 million Texas residents cast early ballots in the state’s 15 largest counties alone. That accounts for 46 percent of all registered voters statewide and exceeds the record 3.5-plus million total early votes cast before the 2008 election.

There’s been evidence nationally that Trump’s inflammatory comments about Latinos could increase Hispanic registration and voting. Demographic data isn’t collected in Texas, but an analysis by former Texas Republican Party pollster Dereck Ryan shows that 23 percent of Texas’ new registrants since March have Hispanic surnames.

What’s unknown, though, is if those are first-time voters or people who registered after moving, either within Texas or here from another state.

POLLING PLACE DROP

Texas has closed at least 400 polling stations since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key portions of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. That’s more than any other state, according to a report from advocacy group Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

The high court’s ruling meant that Texas and other states with histories of racial discrimination, mostly in the South, no longer had to get pre-clearance from the federal government when changing election laws.

Texas’ Secretary of State Office tracks the number of precincts but not polling stations. But in recent years, Texas has consolidated polling places while allowing voters from anywhere in the county to cast ballots at the remaining election stations regardless of precinct.

The advocacy group’s report notes that there are many non-discriminatory reasons for shuttering polling places, including Texas’ consolidation effort. But, it also says that, since the high court ruling, there’s no process ensuring that such closures “do not discriminate against voters of color.”

FRAUD FEARS?

Trump has suggested – without evidence – that the election may be rigged and might involve “vote flipping” in Texas. But Republican Secretary of State Carlos Cascos says there’s no evidence of vote-flipping, which generally means a correctable technical glitch on older electronic voting machines.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is deploying election monitors to 28 states, including Texas, where personnel will go to Harris, Dallas and Waller counties.

A rural area west of Houston, Waller County is where black motorist Sandra Bland was found dead in her jail cell after a contentious traffic stop that was caught on camera – and garnered widespread attention – last year. Democrat Cedric Watson is running to become the area’s first black sheriff.

Voting rights groups, meanwhile, say they have seen evidence of election officials posting misinformation at some polling places about Texas’ 2011 voter ID law, which was weakened by federal courts. Voters who don’t have one of seven previously required forms of photo ID can now cast a ballot by signing an affidavit, though some polling stations were found to have outdated signs listing the old voter ID rules.

STREAK STOPPED?

A Democrat hasn’t won statewide office in Texas since 1994, the nation’s longest such political losing streak. The party’s best chance to end that is incumbent Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Lawrence Meyers, who was first elected as a Republican in 1992 but switched parties in 2013.

The entire Texas House also is up for election, and 16 of the state Senate’s 31 seats. But both chambers are expected to remain comfortably Republican-controlled.

What looks to be Texas’ only competitive congressional race is a rematch between Republican Rep. Will Hurd and former Democratic Rep. Pete Gallego in a district that sprawls from San Antonio to suburban El Paso. Gallego hopes anti-Trump sentiment will boost him among a constituency that’s nearly 70 percent Hispanic. Hurd unseated Gallego in 2014.

The entire Texas House also is up for election, along with 16 of the state Senate’s 31 seats. Regardless of the outcomes, both chambers will remain Republican-controlled.

DONA ANA COUNTY

WHERE TO VOTE

New Mexicans can vote at any location November 8. To view polling location map, click here.

Most voters aren’t required to show ID. Voters who registered in New Mexico for the first time, submitted their registration by mail, and didn’t include a copy of their ID when they registered need to enclose or bring a copy of one of the following:

Photo ID Utility bill Bank statement Government check Paycheck Student ID card ID issued by an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo Other government document that shows your name and current address

BALLOT SELFIE

New Mexico law does not explicitly address the “ballot selfie” issue, but it says voters shall not show the contents of their completed ballots. So, no voting selfies.

ELECTION DAY CAMPAIGNING

Election campaigning within 100 feet of the voting location on Election Day or at any early voting location is guilty of a petty misdemeanor. Campaigning includes display of signs or literature, buttons, t-shirts, hats, pins, or any such items, and includes the verbal or electronic solicitation of votes for any candidate or question on the ballot.

OBSTRUCTING THE VOTING LOCATION

Obstruction occurs when voters are blocked from the entrance of the voting location. If obstructing occurs at the voting location that person(s) is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.

DISTURBING THE VOTING LOCATION

Disturbing the voting location occurs when anyone creates disorder or disruption at the polling place on election day. Anyone who disturbs the voting location is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

There’s little suspense at the top of the ticket, with all three U.S. House incumbents expected to be re-elected, so Republicans are focused on defending their narrow majority in the state House. The party took over in 2014, ending 60 years of Democratic control. The criminal conviction and resignation of former Secretary of State Dianna Duran in 2015, for embezzlement and money laundering related to her gambling addiction, has opened that office. The race is between Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Republican state lawmaker Nora Espinoza.