Word List
Simple meanings for the words on this website.
- Register / Registration
- Signing up to vote, like making an account. You do it once.
- County
- The local office that runs your elections. Your home address decides which one is yours.
- Precinct
- Your assigned voting area or spot.
- Polling place
- The building where you vote.
- Vote center
- A polling place where any voter in the county may vote (used in Travis County).
- Ballot
- Your list of choices.
- Ballot measure
- A question where voters decide something directly, instead of picking a person. A proposition and a bond are both ballot measures.
- Proposition
- A ballot measure that is a yes-or-no question about a rule.
- Bond
- A ballot measure that lets the government borrow money to build something, like a road, school, or park.
- Primary
- The “tryouts,” where each party picks its player.
- General election
- The main November election.
- Runoff
- A second, “overtime” vote when nobody wins clearly.
- Early voting
- Voting on days before Election Day.
- Vote by mail
- Voting with a paper ballot sent to you — only if you qualify.
- Endorsement
- When a person, group, or newspaper says publicly who they think you should vote for.
- Voter ID
- The ID you show to vote; your “ticket in.”
- Provisional ballot
- A backup ballot you can cast if there is a question about your registration. It counts once the question is cleared up.
- Secretary of State
- The person who runs elections in Texas.