El Paso opens early voting with record 540,732 registered voters
El Paso County opens early voting Oct. 19 with a record 540,732 registered voters. Find dates, 39 voting sites and what binational families should know.
El Paso County begins early voting on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, with 540,732 registered voters on its rolls, a record for the border county, according to the El Paso County Elections Department.
The county opened 39 early voting sites for the Nov. 3 general election, the elections office said, including locations that open on Saturdays and Sundays. Voters may cast a ballot at any designated early voting site in the county through Friday, Oct. 30. Statewide, more than 19 million Texans are registered, El Paso Matters reported on Oct. 18.
El Paso sits directly across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juárez, and the two cities function as a single labor and family market: residents cross daily for work, school and medical care, and many voters in El Paso have relatives on the Mexican side. A voter roll at an all-time high matters to that binational community because it sets the size of the electorate that local, state and federal offices will answer to. The county's total grew after elections staff worked through a backlog of registration applications and updates that a Texas Department of Public Safety software error had left unprocessed for more than a year, El Paso Matters reported. The Diario de Juárez reported that more than 540,000 El Pasoans are registered, a historic record, as in-person voting opened.
Texas requires one of seven approved forms of photo identification at the polls, including a state driver's license, a U.S. passport or a military ID. Voters who cannot reasonably obtain one may sign a Reasonable Impediment Declaration and present an alternative document such as a utility bill or a paycheck. The county set Friday, Oct. 23, as the deadline for mail ballot applications, which must be received by that date. On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Voters who cast a ballot receive an "I Voted" sticker designed by El Paso-area students.
Early voting continues through Friday, Oct. 30, at locations listed on the county elections website, which offers a ZIP code lookup and a personalized sample ballot. Election Day follows on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Sources: Early Voting for the November 2026 General and Special Election Begins Monday, October 19, 2026 · Early voting for Nov. 3 election starts Monday with record El Paso voter roll · Arranca voto anticipado con electorado récord
This story was written with the help of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.
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