Seeing a selection change on the voting screen? What Travis County says, and how to check your paper ballot

Polls in Travis County are open until 7 p.m. today, Nov. 3, and anyone in line at 7 p.m. can still vote. Five Austin City Council seats, two bond propositions and eight charter amendments are on the city ballot. Results will start posting after polls close. Our election night guide explains why the first numbers are unofficial.

One problem has come up at the polls in the final days, and it is worth knowing about before you go.

Selections that seem to change

Some Travis County voters have reported that a choice they made on the touchscreen appeared to change as they moved from one ballot page to the next, KUT reported in a voter guide it updated Nov. 2. The station noted that similar reports have come up in past elections.

State and county officials told KUT the machines are not deliberately changing votes. A sensitive touchscreen, or an accidental tap, can register an unintended selection. Bexar County officials said the same about reports there.

A Travis County spokesperson told KUT that the ballot-marking devices, scanners and tabulators are not connected to outside networks or the internet. The county has used the equipment since 2019 and maintains, calibrates and tests it before every election, the spokesperson said.

How to check your vote

The county's voting system page describes three steps:

1. Mark your choices on the touchscreen and review the summary screen before you touch PRINT.
2. Read the paper ballot card that prints. It lists your selections.
3. Put that card into the ballot scanner. The scanned paper card is what counts.

If the paper shows a choice you did not make, do not scan it. Tell a poll worker. Voters can ask for a replacement ballot up to two times, KUT reported. You can also call the county's Elections Call Center at 512-238-VOTE (8683) so the problem is documented.

The printed cards also serve as the record the county uses to double-check the electronic count after the election, according to the county spokesperson.

Turnout so far

As of Nov. 2, 427,452 of Travis County's 952,713 registered voters had already cast ballots, about 44.9%, Community Impact reported, citing the county clerk. Statewide, more than 7.7 million Texans voted early, passing the 2018 record, the Texas Tribune reported via CBS Austin.

Overnight storms were expected to move out before polls opened, with cooler weather behind them, according to KVUE's forecast.

The basics for today

• Where: Travis County voters can use any open polling place in the county. Voters in the Williamson and Hays county parts of Austin vote under their own county's rules.
• ID: Bring one of the seven accepted photo IDs. Voters who cannot reasonably get one can sign a reasonable impediment declaration, KUT reported.
• Getting there: CapMetro buses, rail, Access, Pickup and bikeshare are fare-free all day. Our story on fare-free voting covers what the council has asked for.

What our records add

The city runs its election through the counties. The City Council ordered the council election on Aug. 6, in an ordinance that passed 11-0, and updated it on Oct. 8 to add the final polling places and early voting schedule, also 11-0. The city's bond and charter elections were ordered and updated the same way. The counties provide the equipment, polling places and election workers.

The council makes the results official. City results are final only after the council canvasses them. Last year it canvassed the November 2025 election on Nov. 17, two weeks after Election Day, in a 6-0 vote with five members absent.

What's next

• 7 p.m. tonight: Polls close. Results post on the county's results page.
• Nov. 4: Last day for mail ballots to arrive by mail, according to the county.
• Nov. 5: The current council meets as scheduled. Our post-election calendar covers what it still has to decide.
• Later in November: The canvass. A council race without a majority winner goes to a runoff.