What you need to know for Election Day in Lubbock, across Texas

Alex Driggars, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
·3 min read
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Tuesday is Election Day.

Voters in Lubbock County and across the state of Texas will head to the polls to choose who serves in a number of statewide and local offices for the next few years.

Voters will type in their access code on the new voting machines, as seen Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022.
Voters will type in their access code on the new voting machines, as seen Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022.

The Nov. 8 ballot features races for numerous statewide seats, including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, agriculture commissioner, land commissioner, comptroller and one of three Railroad Commission seats.

Locally, a contested Lubbock County Commissioner and Justice of the Peace seat as well as several water district seats are on the ballot, while in Hale County, voters will choose one member of the Commissioners Court and the County Surveyor.

Lubbockites will also decide whether to grant the City of Lubbock $200 million to fix a number of streets in the city, while Slatonites have the opportunity to make a number of changes to their city's charter and Plainviewans will decide if their city adopts a municipal abortion ban.

More: Abortion ordinance is top-of-mind for Plainview voters in midterms

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. statewide. In Lubbock County, voters can cast their ballot and any one of 37 vote centers across the county. To find a vote center anywhere in the county, voters can visit votelubbock.org or call (806) 775-1339.

In Hale and Hockley counties, voters must cast their ballots at the designated polling place for their precinct. Those locations can be found at halecounty.org and co.hockley.tx.us, respectively.

Voters will need a form of identification to cast a ballot. Acceptable forms of photo ID include: Texas driver license, Texas election ID certificate, Texas personal ID card, Texas handgun license, U.S. citizenship certificate with photo, U.S. military ID with photo or U.S. passport.

This combination of photos shows Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke on Sept. 30, 2022, in Edinburg, Texas, left, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 21, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas, right.
This combination of photos shows Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke on Sept. 30, 2022, in Edinburg, Texas, left, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 21, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas, right.

If a voter does not have an ID and cannot reasonably obtain one, other options are available. Those are listed at votelubbock.org or by calling (806) 775-1339.

This will be the first election in Lubbock County to use new voting machines with a paper ballot backup after Texas lawmakers last year passed a law requiring counties to have a paper method for voting. Voting will still be done on electronic kiosks; however, a piece of paper will be printed off and needs to be fed into a scanner as part of the state-mandated effort supporters say will help prevent voter fraud.

More: Lubbock County Elections Office to unveil paper balloting for upcoming midterms

Even more: Early voting 'not breaking records,' but going well, Lubbock County election head says

Early voting turnout has been down statewide over 2018, including in Lubbock County, where 56,897 early ballots were cast. Though trending lower after the first week, daily early voting totals for the final three days of early voting surpassed 2018 numbers in the county.

Overall, about 14% fewer voters cast an early ballot in Lubbock County than did in 2018 midterms, when Beto O'Rourke was challenging Ted Cruz for his U.S. Senate seat; however, the county's early voting turnout in 2022 is more than double that of 2014.

Voters will walk over to the insertion machine and insert their paper ballot, as seen Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. The ballot boxes are locked and have multiple seals on the locks to prevent tampering.
Voters will walk over to the insertion machine and insert their paper ballot, as seen Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. The ballot boxes are locked and have multiple seals on the locks to prevent tampering.

Lubbock County's elections head Roxzine Stinson previously told the Avalanche-Journal she believes many voters are waiting until Election Day to cast their ballot, just in case they change their minds.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal will have election results and highlights beginning Tuesday evening at lubbockonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: What you need to know for Election Day in Lubbock, across Texas