Voters with Special Needs

El Paso County has made provisions to ensure voters with disabilities have the ability to cast their vote independently and in secret. Every polling place will provide an ADA compliant voting system accessible to voters with disabilities and offer an audio ballot specially for voters with vision or reading impairments.

Assistance at the Polls

Tell the election official if you are a voter who needs assistance to vote, you do not have to provide proof of your disability.

Voters are entitled to receive assistance if they:

1. Cannot read or write; or
2. Have a physical disability that prevents them from reading or marking the ballot.

Voters may be assisted by:

1. Any person the voter chooses who is not an election worker;
2. Two election workers on Election Day; or
3. One election worker during Early Voting.

Voters MAY NOT be assisted by:

1. Their employer;
2. An agent of their employer; or
3. An officer or agent of the union.

It is illegal for a person assisting the voter to:

1. Try to influence the voter’s vote;
2. Mark the voter’s ballot in a way other than the way they have asked; or
3. Tell anyone how the voter voted.

Voting Order Priority

Pursuant to Section 63.0013, Texas Election Code: An election officer may give voting priority to individuals with a mobility problem that substantially impairs the person’s ability to move around.
- A person assisting an individual with a mobility problem may also, at the individual’s request, be given voting order priority.
- Disabilities and conditions that may qualify you for voting order priority include paralysis, lung disease, the use of portable oxygen, cardiac deficiency, severe limitation in the ability to walk due to arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition, wheelchair confinement, arthritis, foot disorder, the inability to walk 200 feet without stopping to rest, or use of a brace, can crutch, or other assistive device.
- Voters who wish to be given voting order priority, and be accepted for voting before others in line to vote at that polling place, may indicate this to any election officer serving at the polling place. The presiding election judge will determine whether the voter and the voter’s assistant, if applicable, will be brought forward to the front of the line.

Curbside Voting

If a voter is physically unable to enter the voting location without assistance or likelihood of injury to his or her health, they may ask that an election worker bring a voting unit during Early Voting or Election Day to their car at the entrance of the voting location. All curbside voters will be allowed the same privacy as a voter at the voting booth.

Curbside voting is allowed for voters who are “physically unable to enter the polling place without personal assistance or likelihood of injuring the voter’s health.” Tex. Elec. Code § 64.009. At the voter’s request, an election officer shall deliver a ballot to the voter at any polling place entrance or the voter can exercise this option at any express curbside voting location.

For more information please contact our office at 915-546-2154.

Additional Resources

Notice of Voting Order Priority (PDF)

United States Election Assistance Commission

Disability Rights Texas

Services Available to Voters with Disabilities in Texas