Harris County Election Day Checklist: Hand-Deliver a Mail Ballot at 1019 Congress, Cure a Provisional in Six Days, Be in Line by 7 P.M.
More than 600 vote centers open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and any registered Harris County voter can use any of them. The details that decide whether a ballot counts: mail ballots can be hand-delivered downtown on Election Day only, provisional ballots get six days to cure, and phones stay off within 100 feet of the door.
HOUSTON - Early voting is over, and Harris County's election now comes down to one day: Tuesday, November 3. More than 600 Election Day vote centers open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and under the county's vote center model any registered Harris County voter may vote at any of them - near home, near work, it does not matter. What matters is the handful of rules that decide whether a ballot is counted, all of them spelled out by the Harris County Clerk's office and HarrisVotes.
Holding a mail ballot you never sent? There is exactly one hand-delivery option left: on Election Day, voters may hand-deliver a mail ballot at 1019 Congress Street in downtown Houston between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and a valid photo ID is required. Mail ballots are not tabulated as they arrive - they are logged, stored securely, and counted when vote centers close at 7 p.m. A voter who decides to vote in person instead must surrender the mail ballot at a vote center; without it, the voter casts a provisional ballot.
A provisional ballot is not a dead end, but it runs on a clock: it must be cured within six days after the election, by presenting identification to verify identity - the county directs curing voters to the Clerk's Elections Department at 15600 Morales Road. The same cure window applies to a voter who voted without an acceptable photo ID. Election-night results, the county notes, can change as mail ballots and accepted provisional ballots are processed.
Two last mechanics for Tuesday itself. Phones, tablets and other electronic devices may not be used within 100 feet of a vote center entrance - bring your choices on paper instead; a printed sample ballot or handwritten notes are allowed, and sample ballots are posted at HarrisVotes.com. And the line rule: polls close at 7 p.m., so plan to be at a vote center before then - Tuesday's forecast, in the station's own weather file, carries an 85 percent chance of thunderstorms, which is one more reason to vote early in the day rather than late.
