NUECES COUNTY, Texas — Nueces County held a mock election at the courthouse to test out the voting equipment for the upcoming November 3 general election.
County Clerk Kara Sands gave us a look at the process for the logic and accuracy testing of the voting machines.
The goal is to make sure the tabulations come out the same as what is entered into the machines in order to identify any glitches and fix them before election day.
She also went over some of the safety precautions that will be in place for voters.
"What we do, every voter comes in, there's hand sanitizer, when you check in you will have a stylus and a pen, everyone is gong to use a different one, those will be cleaned, or a q-tip, where they are not touching the screen, and of course we go back and clean it," Sands said.
This year, voting booths will be set up inside the Central Jury Room at the courthouse to allow for social distancing.
One other thing to point out is that voting will look different this year. Sands said that you will not see an option to vote straight ticket. You will have to vote race by race.
This week, County Commissioners approved early voting locations in what is expected to be a high turnout for in-person and mail-in voting.
RELATED: Vote 2020: Where you can vote early in Nueces CountyWhat
"If you are over 65, or if qualified for one of those reasons where an absentee ballot is appropriate, whether out of the County, we want to make sure that you have the right, that mail in ballot is properly processed," County Judge Barbara Canales said.
Canales said the County wants to make certain they can handle any extra mail-in ballots. The County Clerk has already received over 11,000 applications for mail-in voting. This surpassed the number of ballots mailed out in Nueces for the 2016 presidential election.
Those ballots are expected to be mailed off at the end of September, early October.
Important Dates and Deadlines:
- Deadline to register to vote is Monday, October 5.
- You can register in-person at your County registrar's office or by mail.
- Early voting is from Tuesday, October 13 - Friday, October 30.
- The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is October 23.
- Election day is November 3.
If you do vote by mail, your vote will need to be turned into the County Clerks office before polls close on election day.
Early voting begins October 13 and lasts through October 30. Election day will be on November 3 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.