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(Austonia)
Austinites can begin heading to the polls today to early vote in the March primary elections.
In the primary elections, voters will decide a party's candidate before the general election for different races. This election includes races for governor, lieutenant governor and members of Congress.
Due to Texas having open primaries, voters choose which party’s ballot they want to vote in at the polling location. But they can’t vote in both Republican and Democratic primaries in the same election.
Here are the dates, locations and candidates in this election.
Know before you go
Early voting spans from Feb. 14-25. Election Day is March 1.
The time to register to vote has passed in this election, check if you are registered before heading to the polls here.
You'll need a valid photo ID to present at the polls.
Voters can head to any polling location in the county they live in to cast their ballot. Additional polling locations will be added on Election Day.
Travis County polling locations are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. They will be closed Feb. 21 for Presidents Day.
You can view wait times at Travis County locations here.
Voting by mail
In Texas, only certain voters are eligible to vote by mail. They include: people who are 65 years or older; out of the country during the entire election period; sick or disabled; in jail.
Eligible voters must apply for a mail-in ballot by Friday, Feb. 18. The application form, which can be found here, must be mailed to the following address and received by that date.
Dana DeBeauvoir
Travis County Clerk - Elections Division
P.O. Box 149325
Austin, TX 78714
Once you receive your mail-in ballot, fill it out per the instructions and return it. It must be postmarked by or on Election Day and received the following business day.
Voters who wish to hand-deliver their mail-in ballot can do so at the following address.
Travis County Election Division
5501 Airport Blvd
Austin, TX 78751
A new Texas law requires that applications for ballots by mail include a valid Driver’s License Number or last four digits of their Social Security Number. The number is then compared against the applicant’s voter registration record and rejected if it does not match. Thousands have been rejected already for this reason.
What's on the ballot
The big ballot items include the race for governor, but voters will also cast a ballot for members of Congress, the State Legislature and other county races.
At the federal level, voters will vote on who will run for U.S. Congress in their party.
Running to represent District 37, which includes the Western half of Austin, are:
- Democrats: Lloyd Doggett, Donna Imam, Quinton “Q” Beaubouef, Chris Jones
- Republicans: Jenny Garcia Sharon, Jermiah Diacogiannis, Rod Lingsch
Running to represent District 35, which includes East Austin and South I-35 to San Antonio, are:
- Democrats: Carla-Joy Sisco, Rebecca Viagrán, Greg Casar, Eddie Rodriguez
- Republicans: Jenai Aragona, Michael Rodriguez, Asa George Kent Palagi, Alejandro Ledezma, Dan Sawatzki, Dan McQueen, Sam Montoya, Bill Condict, Jennifer Sundt, Marilyn Jackson
- Democrats: Mary Jo Woods
- Republicans: Paulette Carson, Jason Nelson, Pete Sessions *, Rob Rosenberger
- Democrats:Inocencio (Inno) Barrientez, Michael Cooper, Joy Diaz, Beto O’Rourke, Rich Wakeland
- Republicans: Greg Abbott *, Paul Belew, Danny Harrison, Kandy Kaye Horn, Don Huffines, Rick Perry, Chad Prather, Allen B. West
- REPUBLICANS: Trayce Bradford, Todd M. Bullis, Daniel Miller, Dan Patrick *, Aaron Sorrells, Zach Vance
- DEMOCRATS: Michelle Beckley, Carla Brailey, Mike Collier
Click here to view a personalized sample ballot.
- Austin Council member Greg Casar running for Congress D35 ... ›
- AOC in ATX: U.S. Rep. joins Greg Casar for Red River rally - austonia ›
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Popular
(Moriah Wilson/Instagram)
Austin police are investigating the killing of Moriah "Mo" Wilson after she was found with gunshot wounds inside an Austin home.
Wilson, a gravel and mountain bike racer, was visiting Austin from Colorado in preparation for the Gravel Locos race on Saturday taking place in Hico, a small town 2 hours from Austin.
On Wednesday, her roommate came home and found Wilson unresponsive with "a lot of blood near her,” police said. It is now being investigated as a suspicious death. No further information on the suspect or motive behind the killing are available at this time.
Wilson recently had become a full-time biker after winning a slew of races in the past year.
(Pexels)
Some of your favorite Instagram filters can’t be used in Texas anymore and Austinites are sounding off on social media.
Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, announced on Wednesday that certain filters would no longer be available in Texas.
The change is a result of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against Meta, alleging the company uses facial recognition technology that violates laws in Texas. A release from Meta says it stopped using facial recognition tech in November 2021 and denies Paxton’s allegations.
Some Austinites bemoaned the shift, saying some of their favorite filters were now unavailable.
This was my FAVORITE filter on @instagram and they done removed it cause I’m in Texas ! Like wowwwwww pic.twitter.com/uX60hdIC0Q
— Pinkyy Montana (@inkstar_pinkyy) May 11, 2022
i heard that instagram filters got banned in texas? what the actual fuck y’all better give me my favorite filter back
— lia 🤍 (@liatootrill) May 11, 2022
loved this stupid filter sm i hate texas pic.twitter.com/DXr9mmUc64
— birthday boy jeno 🎂 (@beabtox) May 12, 2022
But more often than not, locals joked about the ban.
Texas women seeing the filter ban on IG pic.twitter.com/yDMcP3Qtsr
— Christian (Anabolic) Flores (@christian_flo24) May 11, 2022
So, the state of Texas has banned filter use on IG? THE END IS NEAR. 😂
— THE FRANCHISE! Франшиза (@NYCFranchise718) May 12, 2022
And some in-between chose to show off some natural beauty.
I live in Texas, but no filter needed. 😉 pic.twitter.com/A6teRgYMKn
— bad and bruja (@starseedmami) May 11, 2022
filter, no filter..texas women still reign supreme.
— 🎍 (@_sixile) May 11, 2022
Finally, some are trying to cash in on the opportunity.
Texas IG users- if you want to filter your picture cashapp me $1.50 $ErvnYng
— Gemini (@ervn_y) May 11, 2022
Meta said it plans to create an opt-in system for both Texas and Illinois residents, who are facing the same issues.