Early voting for Texas’ May 26 primary runoff election begins Monday, giving voters across the state another chance to decide key races ahead of the November general election.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the early voting period, which runs through Friday.
In Harris County, officials will operate 48 voting centers during early voting, including the West Gray Multi-Service Center in Montrose, which is typically one of the county’s busiest polling locations.
The runoff elections will determine which Republican and Democratic candidates advance to the November ballot in races where no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the primary.
Under Texas election rules, voters who participated in a party’s primary election in March may only vote in that same party’s runoff.
For example, voters who cast ballots in the Republican primary can only participate in Republican runoff races. The same rule applies to Democratic primary voters.
However, Texans who did not vote in either primary election are still eligible to choose which party’s runoff they want to participate in.
One of the most closely watched races on the ballot is the Republican runoff for U.S. Senate between incumbent John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The winner of that race will advance to face Democratic nominee James Talarico in November.
Other major races include the Democratic runoff for Texas’ 18th Congressional District, the Republican runoff for the newly created 9th Congressional District and the Democratic runoff for Harris County judge.
Election Day is Tuesday, May 26.