Vote By Mail
Most frequent questions and answers
You are eligible to vote by mail if you:
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- will be away from your county on Election Day and during the hours that early voting is conducted;
- are sick or disabled;
- are 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
- are confined in jail.
There are TWO types of applications:
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- Annual Application for Ballot By Mail: This is only for voters 65 years of age or older or disabled voters.
- When you select the “annual” option on the application you will receive a mail ballot for all elections held during a calendar year. Annual applications may be submitted beginning the first day of a calendar year (January 1) and no later than the 11th day before Election Day.
- Regular Ballot By Mail Application: Anyone not qualifying for an annual ballot.
- Annual Application for Ballot By Mail: This is only for voters 65 years of age or older or disabled voters.
- Request (or download) an Application for Ballot by Mail.
- To request by phone, call 817-831-8683
- To request an application be mailed to you, click here.
- To download and print at home, click here.
- Complete the application and return it to the Tarrant County Early Voting Clerk.
- You can see full directions about how to complete the application here.
Mailing Address:
Tarrant County Elections
PO Box 961011
Fort Worth, Texas 76161-0011
Express Courier Delivery:
Tarrant County Elections
2700 Premier St.
Fort Worth, Texas 76111-3011
Fax: 817-850-2344
Email: [email protected]
Prerequisites: already a registered voter and applied to vote by mail
Quick reference:
- Complete your ballot with black ink.
- Place it inside the grey envelope and seal.
- Place the grey envelope inside the yellow envelope (and the SOR form, if applicable).
- Seal.
- Sign over the flap.
- Mail.
Some extra details:
- Wait for your ballot. If you applied early, you should receive your ballot around one month before the election.
- When your ballot arrives, fill it in according to the instructions. See the “Best Practices for Completing Your Ballot” for more info.
- Fold your ballot and place it inside the grey official ballot envelope, also called the secrecy envelope. Put all pages of your ballot inside, even if you don’t vote on every page. Only put one complete ballot in each ballot envelope. Do not add the ballot of someone who lives with you, or both ballots will be rejected.
- Seal the grey ballot envelope.
- Place the grey ballot envelope inside the yellow official carrier envelope. If you accidentally left out a page of your ballot when you sealed the ballot envelope, you may place the missing page inside the yellow carrier envelope, but do not add pages from someone else’s ballot, or include a second complete ballot in the carrier envelope. If multiple ballots are inside the same carrier envelope, they will be rejected.
- If you received a yellow “Statement of Residence” (SOR) form, fill it out and place it inside the yellow carrier envelope. The yellow envelope will have a barcode printed on it with a notation saying “SOR”. If an envelope marked “SOR” does not include the yellow SOR form, the ballot will be rejected.
- Put the SOR form inside the yellow carrier envelope, NOT inside the grey ballot envelope. It is the first thing the Early Voting Ballot Board will look for when opening envelopes, to make sure your vote can be counted.
- Double check!
- Ballot filled out correctly and placed inside grey ballot envelope.
- Grey ballot envelope sealed and placed inside yellow carrier envelope.
- Last chance to make sure you didn’t forget a page. If you did, place it in the yellow carrier envelope.
- Only your ballot is inside the grey or yellow envelopes. Not anyone else’s.
- The yellow SOR form, if applicable, is complete and correct, and placed inside the yellow carrier envelope.
- Seal the yellow carrier envelope. Make sure it will close properly before you wet the glue. If it is open, the ballot will be rejected. Do not use tape.
- Sign the envelope. Sign inside the signature box, and across the bottom and top of the sealed flap. It is okay to make your signature bigger than normal if you need to.
- Make sure that anyone who helped you mark your ballot fills out the affidavit on the yellow carrier envelope, and reads the oath under “instructions to assistant”.
- If you cannot make your normal signature, you can still make a mark. If you cannot make a mark, leave the signature space blank. You must ask someone to witness your mark or affirm that you cannot make a mark. Your witness must complete, in full, the part of the affidavit that says “instructions to witness”. If you are able to make your mark, they must state your name, and include their information. If you cannot make your mark, they must check the box to indicate that you are unable to do so, in addition to the previous information. If the affidavit is not filled out correctly and completely, your ballot will be rejected.
- Use a pencil (or small markings) to keep track of which candidates you like
- When you decide which candidate to vote for, use a black ballpoint pen to fill in the correct box.
- Fill in the boxes completely, or as completely as possible.
- If you cannot fill in the box, it is okay to ask someone to help you fill it in. However, this person must complete the assistant portion of the affidavit on the back of your yellow return envelope, stating that they helped you at your request, and under your supervision.
- Do not use white out, and do not try to scratch out or cross out an incorrect choice.
- If you make an error, mark the correct box, and put an clear, legible mark next to the choice you want. The ballot will be marked as “overvote”, and the Early Voting Ballot Board will manually review your ballot to see if you indicated which choice you wanted to keep, and make sure it is counted correctly. If you do not indicate which vote you want to use, the ballot will be marked “overvote” and no vote will be recorded.
- Do not write or put markings in the margins of the ballot (where the barcodes are). The electronic scanner cannot read the ballot if there are markings there, and your ballot will have to be manually reproduced by the Early Voting Ballot Board in order to be counted.