Early voting in Texas begins Monday, Oct. 21, at 7 a.m. During early voting, registered voters can vote anywhere in their county until Nov. 1. As Election Day nears, a historic turnout is anticipated at the polls. The Texas Secretary of State said 18.6 million Texans are registered to vote, an increase of more than a million from the 2020 elections. New security measures have been implemented in Tarrant County. More than a dozen changes, which take effect Monday, include improved employee training, cybersecurity assessments, and stricter access controls. According to Judge Tim O’Hare, the added provisions were implemented to preserve the integrity of the election process. In-person voters will also notice a change in their printed ballots. Ballots will be pre-printed, serialized, and sequentially numbered. “You’ll see a number on your ballot. You can remember that number,” O’Hare said. “You can literally go look later online to see what that your vote has been counted.” On Friday, the Dallas County Elections Department finalized another round of testing for its voting machines, which will be distributed to 71 early voting centers. According to Heider Garcia, the county Elections Administrator, the machines are operating properly. He added that safeguards are in place to prevent any tampering with them. “We are ready. We have trained everyone. We have programmed all the equipment. We’ve shown that we’re ready. It comes down to people showing up to vote,” Garcia said. Dallas County reported 1.47 million registered voters this year. Tarrant County’s online Voter Dashboard shows more than 1.3 million registered voters. One of the key races in Texas is for the U.S. Senate. Registered voters have a chance to shake things up as U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) faces an uphill battle to unseat incumbent Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas). On Sunday’s Lone Star Politics, former Republican Illinois representative Adam Kinzinger said it’s a tight race. “There’s no doubt it’s close. Texas is not favorable to Democrats. But all you have to do is look back at 2018 when Beto O’Rourke came within two points or Ted Cruz. He’s obviously way further to the left than Colin Allred is,” Kinzinger said. “And then this presidential year, Democrats usually turn out in higher numbers in a presidential year. Whereas the last time with Beto, that was a non-presidential year.” The stakes are also high for the presidential election. On Sunday, presidential candidates made stops in battleground states as the race enters its final stretch. Former President Donald Trump handed out fries in Pennsylvania, while Vice President Kamala Harris visited churches in Georgia. Registered early voters in Texas must present a valid photo ID and request a mail-in ballot by Friday, October 25. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. The last day to register to vote in the election is Monday, Oct. 7. Voter registration status can be checked here.