Voting is an important right for Americans and to exercise that right, you must be registered to vote. Texas offers several ways to register -- by accessing a web form or stopping by a local post office, library, or courthouse.

First, you must determine your eligibility. To be eligible, you must meet all five of these criteria:

1. You must be a United States citizen.
2. You must be a resident of the county in which you wish to vote.

1. You must be eighteen years old. You may register to vote as early as seventeen years and ten months, but you will not be able to vote until your eighteenth birthday.
2. You may not be a convicted felon, unless your sentence has been completed, including any probation or parole.
3. You may not be declared mentally incapacitated by a court of law.

If you meet all five of those criteria, then registering to vote is as simple as filling out a form and mailing it to the voter registrar in your county of residence.
You may find this form on the state of Texas web site. Under "Informal Application", click on the words "open this form" in the first sentence. It will open up a pdf document. Print this out and fill in the fields completely. Put the form in an envelope with proper postage and mail it to the voter registrar in your county.

You may also request a postage-paid form to be sent to you by filling out this online form on the state of Texas web site. A form will be sent to you through the mail, which you can fill in and mail to the voter registrar in your county.

Other places to find postage-paid forms for registering to vote include libraries and post offices. The office of the voter registrar in any county will have them. Offices of the Department of Public Safety, courthouses, and many high schools also keep them available.