The 2022 Texas midterm elections are Nov. 8. Deadline to register is Oct. 11

AUSTIN − The 2022 midterm elections are 29 days away, but for Texans who plan to vote there's a fair amount of prep work to be done before casting a ballot on Nov. 8. The first step is making sure you’re registered to vote. Tuesday, Oct. 11, is the last day to register.

Texas candidates will be kicking their campaigns into high gear as key election deadlines loom.

You'll have to make sure you're registered, figure out if your statehouse and congressional districts changed after lawmakers redrew the political boundaries last year to reflect population data uncovered in the 2020 Census, and you need to be aware of some key dates and deadlines that always seem to sneak up unnoticed in every election cycle.

Register to vote, early voting, poll hours and more: Important dates for the 2022 Texas midterm elections

Oct. 11: Last day to register to vote.

Oct. 24: First day of in-person early voting.

Oct. 28: Last day to apply for a mail-in ballot. The application must be received by then, not postmarked by then.

Nov. 4: Last day of in-person early voting.

Nov. 8: Election Day: Polls open at 7 a.m. and close 7 p.m. It is also the last day for vote-by-mail ballot to be received If the envelope is not postmarked. Ballots received after that must be postmarked by 7 p.m. Tuesday. Rules may vary from county to county, so contact your local elections office with questions or requests for clarification, and for rules covering overseas or military voting deadlines.

Then come the candidates for one seat on the state board of education, one seat in the Texas House, and one in the Texas Senate. Myriad county offices, judgeships, justices of the peace, and maybe even some local races will follow after that. Voters should check with their county and local governments for the complete list.

How to register to vote in Texas

The easiest way is to find the 6-inch by 4-inch card sent by mail from the local voter registrar's office. Helpful tip: Look for two boxes near the center of the card that say "Valid from" and "thru." If the "thru" box says 12/31/2023, your registration is up to date. If it doesn't, or if you can't find your card at all, keep reading.

The Texas Secretary of State's office maintains a portal for Texans to check their registration status online. The URL is https://www.votetexas.gov/register-to-vote/. From there, click on the Am I Registered? link and find the "Selection Criteria" button. It takes you to a form that asks for your name, county of residence zip code and birthdate. Fill it out, and if your voter info pops up, you're good to go.

If not, there's a link to the left that says "Register." Click on that and follow the prompts.

How do I find out which district I live in?

There are a couple of ways, and at least one of them can be tricky. Remember, pretty much every congressional district and all 150 districts for the state House and the 31 in the state Senate have changed − dramatically, in some cases − after the Census. There are also two new congressional districts because Texas gained more population than most states.

If you're registered and found your card, you'll see just above your name and address 10 tiny boxes showing the district numbers for the offices at the state, county and local levels. If your City Council and school board are not divided into single-member districts, the boxes for them will be empty.

If you're not yet registered or your card is not immediately handy, there's a state portal called "Who represents me?" The URL is https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home. that can help. Just fill out your street address and hit the "Find" button.

But here's the tricky part: The immediately visible top of the page tells you who represents you today, not which districts you'll be voting in on Election Day. For that information, scroll to the bottom and your districts for the upcoming elections will be listed in red type.

What state and federal offices in Texas are on the 2022 ballot?

Midterms, sometimes called "off-year" elections, are just that − elections that occur in the middle of a president's term so the White House is not in play this year. Neither is either U.S. Senate seat because neither incumbent is coming to the end of his present six-year term.

The top of the ballot for every Texas voter this year will feature exactly one congressional race. After that will come statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor, Texas attorney general, comptroller, land commissioner, agriculture commissioner, and one of three seats on the Texas Railroad commission.

Next comes three of the nine places on the Texas Supreme Court and three of the nine places on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Here are statewide races

Governor

• Greg Abbott, Republican (Incumbent)

• Beto O'Rourke, Democrat

• Mark Tippetts, Libertarian

• Delilah Barrios, Green

Lieutenant governor

• Dan Patrick, Republican (Incumbent)

• Mike Collier, Democrat

• Shanna Steele, Libertarian

Attorney general

• Ken Paxton, Republican (Incumbent)

• Rochelle Mercedes Garza, Democrat

• Mark Ash, Libertarian

Comptroller

• Glenn Hegar, Republican (Incumbent)

• Janet T. Dudding, Democrat

• V. Alonzo Echevarria-Garza, Libertarian

Land commissioner

• Dawn Buckingham, Republican

• Jay Kleberg, Democrat

• Alfred Molison, Green

Agriculture commissioner

• Sid Miller, Republican (Incumbent)

• Susan Hays, Democrat

Railroad commissioner

• Wayne Christian, Republican (Incumbent)

• Luke Warford, Democrat

• Jaime Andres Diez, Libertarian

• Hunter Wayne Crow, Green

Texas Supreme Court, Place 3

• Debra Lehrmann, Republican (Incumbent)

• Erin A. Nowell, Democrat

• Thomas Edward Oxford, Libertarian

Texas Supreme Court, Place 5

• Rebeca Huddle, Republican (Incumbent)

• Amanda Reichek, Democrat

Texas Supreme Court, Place 9

• Evan Young, Republican (Incumbent)

• Julia Maldonado, Democrat

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5

• Scott Walker, Republican (Incumbent)

• Dana Huffman, Democrat

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6

• Jesse F. McClure, III, Republican (Incumbent)

• Robert Johnson, Democrat

State Board of Education, District 1

• Michael "Travis" Stevens, Republican

• Melissa N. Ortega, Democrat

8th Court of Appeals District, Place 2

• Jeff Alley, Republican

• Lisa Soto, Democrat

SOURCE: Texas Secretary of State https://candidate.texas-election.com/Elections/getQualifiedCandidatesInfo.do

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: What you need to know about 2022 Texas midterm elections