Ten Days to Register. The County Posted Where to Vote Early, and Magnolia Has a New Spot on FM 1488.
By The Magnolia Standard · September 25, 2026
On September 1 the county had not said where anyone would vote early. Now it has, and the ballot has names on it.
The last day to register for the November 3 election is Monday, October 5. That is ten days from today. Texas counts it from the postmark on a mailed application or from the day the application reaches the county's voter registrar, and after that date nothing about this election can be fixed.
When this paper wrote about the deadline at the start of the month, the Montgomery County Elections page listed early voting locations as information coming soon. That page is filled in now. So is the sample ballot, posted September 9. Two things changed.
Where to vote early
Early voting runs from Monday, October 19 through Friday, October 30. Any registered voter in the county can use any early voting site, not only the one nearest home. The hours shift partway through:
- Monday, October 19 to Friday, October 23: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday, October 24: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Sunday, October 25: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Monday, October 26 to Friday, October 30: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Ten sites are on the county's list. Two carry a Magnolia address. The West Montgomery County Community Development Center, at 31355 Friendship Drive in 77355, votes in its Green Room. The other is new this cycle: the Magnolia Event Center Annex, at 11731 FM 1488 in 77354, in the main room. The county marks it with the words "New Location," which is worth knowing for anyone who plans to drive to wherever they voted last time.
The nearest site to the north is the Lone Star Community Center at 2500 Lone Star Parkway in Montgomery. The county's listing adds, in parentheses, that this is not the Lone Star Convention Center in Conroe. They are two different buildings.
An application for a ballot by mail has to be received, not postmarked, by Friday, October 23. Texas limits mail voting to people 65 or older, people who are sick or disabled, people who will be out of the county for the whole voting period, people expecting to give birth near Election Day, and people confined in jail.
The appraisal board has names now
Three seats on the Montgomery Central Appraisal District board are on every ballot in the county. Nobody in Magnolia is drawn out of this race. As of the September 1 story the candidates were not yet on the county's sample ballot. They are now, in the order the county prints them:
- Place 1: Dale Inman, Gary Beck
- Place 2: Frank S. Smith, Creg Mixon
- Place 3: Sherry D. Tavel, Webb Melder
The first time these seats were filled, in May 2024, Gary W. Beck won Place 1, Pete Palmer won Place 2 and Webb Melder ran unopposed for Place 3. Place 1 and Place 3 carry the same names as those winners. Place 2 does not. Palmer is not on this ballot, so that seat goes to someone new either way.
The board's job is narrow. According to the Texas Comptroller's manual for appraisal district directors, the board picks the chief appraiser and adopts the district's budget. It has no authority to set the value of anyone's property. The chief appraiser's office does that work, and the board decides who runs that office and what it spends.
Four percent
The 2024 race ran on a May ballot, alone with a handful of local items. The county's official canvass for that election shows 17,802 ballots cast out of 435,228 registered voters. That is 4.09 percent.
November is different. The same three seats now sit on a ballot that opens with the races for United States Senate and governor and runs through the county judge and the county courts. Turnout in a governor's year is not in the same neighborhood as a May local election. Whoever wins these seats will very likely do it with far more voters than the first board had, many of whom will reach this part of the ballot having never heard of it.
Magnolia ISD has no race on this ballot. Its trustee elections are held in May. Some addresses in the county will see school board contests for Conroe, Tomball, New Caney or Willis ISD, depending on where the line falls.
What a voter can check this week
- Whether the registration shows the current address. The county's voter lookup at elections.mctx.org also brings up that voter's own sample ballot and precinct.
- Whether a new neighborhood changed the ballot. A move across a school district line or into a new MUD changes which local races appear.
- Which early voting site is closest now, since three on the list are marked as new locations and two more have moved to new rooms.
The elections office is at 9159 Airport Road in Conroe. The number the county lists for Election Central is (936) 539-7843.
Editor's note: this ran as straight reporting rather than the two-column format. Deadlines, polling places, the names on a published sample ballot and certified results from a past election are settled public record. Nothing here takes a position on any candidate or on how anyone should vote.
Sources: Montgomery County Elections, elections.mctx.org, for the October 5, 2026 registration deadline for the November 3, 2026 joint election; its early voting page for that election, for the dates, hours, the ten main and branch locations with addresses and rooms, the "New Location" markings and the note distinguishing the Lone Star Community Center from the Lone Star Convention Center; and its master sample ballot for the November 3, 2026 joint election, preview dated September 9, 2026, for the Montgomery Central Appraisal District board candidates in ballot order and the contests listed on it. The county's official cumulative results report for the May 4, 2024 joint election, run May 16, 2024, for the Place 1, 2 and 3 results and the turnout of 17,802 of 435,228 registered voters. The Texas Secretary of State's guidance on appraisal district elections in counties of 75,000 or more, for the November 2026 election of all three elected seats. The Texas Comptroller's Appraisal District Director's Manual for the board's duties. Texas Secretary of State early voting guidance for the mail ballot eligibility categories. That Place 1 and Place 3 carry the 2024 winners' names is a comparison of the two ballots; the paper has not confirmed any candidate's background. Our September 1 story on this race is here. Corrections to editor@themagnoliastandard.news.