How early voting works -- and why it's safe

There is a whisper going around the country that an early-vote ballot gets set aside or thrown out — that it isn’t a real vote. A properly cast early in-person vote in Fort Bend County counts exactly the same as a vote cast on Election Day, and early-voting and Election Day ballots are counted and reported together as a single in-person voting category.

Early voting, in your own backyard

Early voting for the November 3, 2026 general election runs for 12 days, from October 19 through October 30, 2026. A registered Fort Bend County voter may cast an early ballot at any designated early-voting location in the county, not just the one nearest home.

Missouri City-area early-voting locations include:

• Missouri City Visitors Center, 1522 Texas Pkwy
• Sienna Annex, 5855 Sienna Springs Way
• Hightower High School, 3333 Hurricane Ln
• Quail Valley Fund Office, 3603 Glenn Lakes Ln
• Chasewood Clubhouse
• Elkins High School

Most early-voting sites are open 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. On Sunday, October 25:

• Missouri City Visitors Center and Sienna Annex: noon to 6:00 p.m.
• several other sites: closed

Casting an early ballot is a routine, in-person act: a voter walks in, casts the vote on the same equipment, and it is recorded the same way as an Election Day ballot.

From your hand to the count

When a voter finishes making their choices, the ballot is cast into the voting system at the polling place then and there — it is not set aside or marked as secondary.

The Texas Secretary of State added, “For those entities, early voting results will be counted and reported along with election day results as in-person voting results on election night”.

Texas Election Code Section 85.032(b) states, “The ballot box in which voters deposit their marked early voting ballots must have two locks, each with a different key, and must be designed and constructed so that the box can be sealed to detect any unauthorized opening of the box and that the ballot slot can be sealed to prevent any unauthorized deposit in the box”.

One key to that box is held by the early-voting clerk and the other by the custodian of keys, so no single person can open it alone. Early-voting ballots are not opened or counted before the legally authorized time; they remain sealed and locked until the early-voting ballot board or central counting station receives them for tabulation.

When your early vote is counted

Early-voting ballots may be worked on ahead of time, but results generally cannot be released until the polls close on Election Day. Counting of the sealed early ballots generally may begin when the polls open on Election Day, and the early tallies are reported alongside Election Day results as a single set of in-person results.

Fort Bend County labels its election-night postings Unofficial Results. The Elections Administrator prepares the unofficial canvass report after precincts are counted. The official canvass comes later, after all returns are reconciled, and is conducted by each canvassing authority.

For the November 3, 2026 election, those dates are:

• earliest local canvass: Friday, November 6
• latest local canvass: no later than Tuesday, November 17, the 14th day after the election
• state canvass may begin Saturday, November 21
• provisional-ballot notices go out by Monday, November 30

Fort Bend County tests and validates its voting-system programming before and after elections through logic-and-accuracy testing, so that votes are counted and reported as cast.

See it for yourself

Fort Bend County runs logic-and-accuracy testing with witnesses present, so anyone can see firsthand that the equipment counts and reports votes as cast. You can follow the count for yourself by watching the Unofficial Results postings on election night and the later official canvass report, which is prepared only after all the returns are reconciled.

Anyone with a question can reach the Fort Bend County Elections Department directly at 3730 Bamore Road, Rosenberg, TX 77471, by phone at 281-341-8670, or by email at [email protected].