For students, voting during an election season can be incredibly stressful and difficult. This is especially true for those who are first time voters or are from out of state.

The most important choice students will have to make is whether or not to register to vote in Wichita County. 

Right now both of Texas’ senate seats are up for election. This means that out-of-state students who plan on staying in Texas for the next six years may want to register to vote in Wichita County. However, students who plan to move back to their home state, or are more invested in the senators of their home state, can decide to get a mail-ballot instead.

Texas’ voter ID laws make it difficult for out-of-state students to vote in Texas. The simplest way for out-of-state students to vote is to apply for an absentee ballot in their home state.

The rules for absentee voting are different in every state, so AllInToVote.org is a great resource for out-of-state students. All In To Vote was created by the League of Women Voters to help people get registered and vote. 

Out-of-state students can input their home state and their voting plans into the website and it will give the student a voting plan and point them in the right direction.

Despite being slightly outdated, LWV’s website also includes guides for different types of voting, including resources for disabled voters and articles on voting rights. 

As for students from Texas, the Texas Secretary of State’s website has a step-by-step guide to apply for an absentee ballot.

Once a student has an absentee ballot, the next step is to fill in sections one through four, then date and sign section five. After that, students will need to mail the form to the early voting clerk in their home county. The list of early voting clerks can be found on the Texas Secretary of State’s website.

If students plan on voting in-person for the primaries, they will need to be registered to vote in Wichita County by Feb. 5. 

Out-of-state students are able to vote as long as they register in Texas using their address on campus.

Students from other parts of Texas can go to the Voter Name and Address Changes website and change their registration to Wichita County. To do this, they’ll need their Unique Voter Identifier which they can get by putting in their driver license number and birthday into the Texas Voter Registration website.

When in-state students go to vote in person, they must bring a valid form of identification. The following forms are valid as long as they are issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety:

• A Texas Driver License
• A Election Identification Certificate
• Texas Personal Identification Card
• Texas Handgun License

A U.S. Military Identification Card or a Citizenship Certificate containing the student’s photograph is also valid, as well as a U.S. Passport.

Out-of-state students will need to bring a photo ID and a form of verification that has their Wichita Falls address on it. All of the following forms can either be copies or originals:

• A voter registration certificate
• A government document with their name and an address
• A bank statement
• A government check
• A paycheck
• A certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or (b) a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law which establishes the voter’s identity (which may include a foreign birth document)

After students presents one of these forms of verification, they’ll be presented with a Reasonable Impediment Declaration that they’ll need to fill out. Once they fill out that form, they will be set to vote in person.

Early voting for primaries opens Tuesday, Feb. 20, and closes March 1.

Election day is Tuesday, March 5.

Students who are unable to change their voting county by Feb. 5 can still vote using an absentee ballot from their former county or from their home state. The last day to apply for an absentee ballot in Texas is Feb. 23.