Tuesday Election Day in McLennan County and Texas. Voters will decide high-stakes races for U.S. Senator, Texas governor and many other national, state and local races.
Here’s what you need to know before you head to the polls:
Key local races: Texas House Districts 56 and 13, Texas Senate District 22, Congressional District 17, Precinct 2 county commissioner and the Robinson ISD bond election.
Make your decisions: Pull up The Waco Bridge’s interactive voter guide, enter your address and find all races relevant to you, including local races. Once you build your ballot, click on the printer icon to print it out so you can use it in the voting booth.
Check your registration: You can look it up easily online. Contact the Mclennan County Elections Office if there’s a problem.
Bring ID: Texas accepts seven types of photo ID, including a drivers license, handgun permit or U.S. passport. Those lacking photo ID can apply to use other types of identification.
Choose a site: McLennan County voters can cast their ballot at any one of 39 vote centers, seen in the map below.
Early voting surge
McLennan County wrapped up two weeks early voting Friday with a cumulative total of 56,077 in-person voters, breaking the previous midterm record set in 2018.
The surge comes as Texas Democrats are emboldened by close polling for a Texas U.S. Senate seat and other races. Statewide early voting set a midterm record of 7.7 million this year, according to The Texas Tribune.
McLennan County drew 44,523 early voters in the 2018 midterms, in which Democrat Beto O’Rourke came within 3 percentage points of toppling U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in the statewide race. (In McLennan County, the spread was 24 points in Cruz’s favor).
Early voting results by vote center are not available online, but turnout was strong at the Multi-Purpose Community Center in East Waco, which tends to draw a mix of urban minority and rural voters. The center saw 8,267 early voters, double its turnout in 2022.
Poll workers saw more routine turnout at the First Assembly of God vote center in West Waco, long seen as a Republican stronghold. It drew 16,167 early voters, up 731 from 2022 but down 1,717 from 2018.
