The deadline to ask for a mail ballot in Texas passed Friday, but state law keeps two narrow routes open for Grayson County voters whose plans fall apart in the last days before the Nov. 3 election. Both run through the county's main voting location, the Election Administration office at 115 W. Houston St. in Sherman.
A sudden illness or disability
A registered voter who becomes sick or disabled on or after Thursday, Oct. 22, the day before the mail ballot cutoff, can still vote a late ballot under Chapter 102 of the Texas Election Code.
The condition has to be the kind that already qualifies someone to vote by mail: one that keeps the voter from going to the polls without a likelihood of needing personal assistance or of injuring their health.
The voter does not go to the clerk. A representative does. That person carries the application, along with a certificate signed by a licensed physician, chiropractor or accredited Christian Science practitioner, to the early voting clerk at the main location.
The clerk hands the ballot to the representative, who takes it to the voter and then brings the sealed ballot back in person. A late ballot returned any other way cannot be counted.
The representative must be at least 18, cannot work for or be closely related to a candidate on the ballot, and can serve only one voter in the election. Applications must be in before 5 p.m. on Election Day, and the marked ballot is due by the same 7 p.m. deadline that applies to mail ballots, KPRC-TV in Houston reported Sunday.
A death in the family
Chapter 103 covers voters who will be out of the county on Election Day because a close relative, such as a parent, child, sibling, grandparent or grandchild, has died. The death must happen on or after Thursday, Oct. 29, the day before early voting ends.
Those voters apply and vote in person at the main location after early voting closes and before the end of business on Monday, Nov. 2.
