Finding Truth: How to Vote Like a Student of Truth
One last cup of coffee, one ballot, seven questions.
Fifteen days ago we started this conversation. We have covered a lot of ground: property taxes, school funding, redistricting, campaign money, immigration, the grid, water, abortion, policing, crime, and your rights at the polls. Monday, October 19, early voting begins. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.
Today I'm not telling you who to vote for. I never have. I want you to walk into the booth knowing what each office can and cannot do, and with a set of questions you can use on any claim, from any candidate, on any side.
Grab your coffee. This one is a checklist.
Part 1: Make Your Voting Plan
Dates. Early voting starts October 19. Election Day is November 3. Please confirm your county's early voting hours and locations on your county elections website or at VoteTexas.gov. Hours and sites vary by county, and I don't want to hand you a number that is wrong for where you live.
Where to look.
Check your registration status and polling places at VoteTexas.gov, run by the Secretary of State.
Look up your sample ballot on your county elections website. Many counties post it before early voting starts.
ID. Bring an accepted form of photo ID. If you don't have one, Texas law has a process for that. The Secretary of State's site lists the options.
Voting by mail. Mail ballots are limited to specific groups, such as voters 65 and older, voters with a disability, and voters who will be away from the county. If you qualify, read the carrier envelope carefully and follow every instruction. A common mistake is leaving off a required ID number or signature. Mail early, and ask the post office for a hand-cancelled postmark if you are close to the deadline.
The hotline. If you have a problem, the Secretary of State's hotline is 1-800-252-VOTE (8683). Put it in your phone now.
Part 2: What Is on Your Ballot
Depending on where you live, your ballot may include:
U.S. Senate
U.S. House
Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Agriculture Commissioner, Land Commissioner, and Railroad Commissioner
State Board of Education seats
Texas Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals places
State Senate and State House seats
Judges and county offices
Local measures that vary by place
Your ballot will not look exactly like your neighbor's. Look at your sample ballot ahead of time so no race surprises you. For judicial and down-ballot races, remember that much of what shapes daily life in Texas happens in county and local offices, not in the races that get the ads.
Part 3: The Master Map, Who Controls What
This is the thread running through the whole series. A candidate promising something is not the same as an office being able to deliver it. The printable at the bottom has this map in a one-page format.
Topic | Who holds the main lever | Who else shapes it |
Property taxes | Local taxing units set rates | The Legislature sets caps and exemptions; the governor signs or vetoes |
School funding and vouchers | The Legislature writes formulas and programs | The governor and Lt. Gov. set the agenda; agencies administer |
Redistricting | The Legislature draws the maps | The governor can call special sessions; courts decide legality |
Campaign money | The Legislature and Texas Ethics Commission (state); FEC and Congress (federal) | Courts set constitutional limits |
Immigration and border | The federal government sets law and enforcement | The state can fund, deploy, and sue; the AG litigates |
Power grid | The Legislature and state regulators | Local governments and homeowners have limited levers |
Water | The Legislature, state water agencies, local districts | The governor and Lt. Gov. steer funding; cities run supply |
Abortion and health | The Legislature writes law; courts interpret | The AG enforces and litigates; doctors and hospitals apply it |
Policing and local safety | Cities, counties, sheriffs, DAs | The Legislature can limit local budgets; the governor signs |
Crime and guns | The Legislature writes criminal and gun law | Federal law applies; DAs and judges decide cases |
Voting rules | The Legislature writes the Election Code | The Secretary of State and county clerks run elections; courts review |
Lawsuits as a lever | The Attorney General (state side) | Courts decide; litigation is slow and can lose |
U.S. Senate | Federal law, federal budget, confirmations | It cannot change Texas statutes or local tax rates |
When you hear a promise, find the row. Then ask whether the person promising it is running for the office in the left column.
Part 4: The Seven Questions
These work on any claim from any side, including claims you are inclined to believe.
Who is saying this, and what do they gain? Everyone has an angle. The question is whether the angle explains the claim.
Can I find the original source? A screenshot of a post about a report is not the report.
Is it a rate, a count, or a percentage, and compared to what? "Thousands" and "a record" mean little without a base and a comparison.
Is it a fact, a prediction, or a value judgment? All three are legitimate, but they need different kinds of evidence.
Does this office actually control this? See the map above.
What would change my mind, and have I looked at that evidence? If nothing could change it, you hold a loyalty, not a conclusion.
Would I accept this standard of proof if the conclusion pointed the other way? This is the hardest, and the most honest.
Part 5: What Surprised Me
Writing this series, I kept running into the same pattern. The loudest claim in a race is often about a lever the office does not hold. Perceived problems and measured problems frequently differ. Both sides pass along claims that did not hold up when I went to the source. I did not find a clean villain in any of the fifteen topics, and that's uncomfortable for people who want one.
There were also several facts I was not aware of, or at best vaguely aware of that did modify my views on a couple of issues.
Super Pac donors can remain anonymous and neither PAC's nor Super PAC's are held accountable to accuracy in their advertising
Property taxes and the interaction of state and local government is complicated. Especially interesting is the ability of the State government to reallocate local Property taxes for education to other school districts in the state, as is done to Austin.
Polling showing that most Texans favor some sort of gun control, not elimination of gun rights, but rather limiting access to firearms in very specific cercumstance.
The Texas power grid is a separate entity from the national grid. While this ensures Texas power independence, it also exposes Texas taxpayers to funding infrastructure modernization costs and cyber defense efforts.
Part 6: If Something Goes Wrong
A quick recap from Day 14:
If you are told you are not on the list, ask for a provisional ballot.
Note the time, the location, and who you spoke with.
Call 1-800-252-VOTE (8683).
If you are in line when the polls close, stay in line.
Before you vote, don't be afraid to ask a poll worker a question. That is their job.
Part 7: After Election Day
A student of truth does not stop at the ballot.
County canvass and provisional ballot deadlines follow the election. Check your county for the dates if you cast a provisional ballot.
A possible runoff may be scheduled in some races. Watch for it.
January 12, 2027: The Legislature convenes. Whoever wins will begin acting on the very levers in the map above. Watch what they do against what they said.
Local meetings. City councils, school boards, and groundwater districts decide much of what you actually live with. They meet in public.
Poll worker sign-ups. If you want to see the system work from the inside, your county elections office is always looking for help.
A Student of Truth's Approach (Finale Checklist)
☐ I checked my registration and my sample ballot.
☐ I know where and when I am voting.
☐ I looked at the original source for the claims that mattered most to me.
☐ I asked whether each office controls what its candidates promise.
☐ I held the claims I like to the same standard as the ones I don't.
☐ I know the hotline number.
Call to Action
Vote. Then help one other person get ready to vote, without telling them how. Share the one-page printable with a neighbor, a church group, or a coworker. And after the election, keep asking the seven questions of the winners.
A Student of Truth Is Now Available
If this series has been useful, my book A Student of Truth: Think Clearly in a World of Misinformation, Outrage, and AI is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback. It's the foundation of everything you've read here. And I'm working on several other projects as well :
the next book in the Finding Truth series, The Ledger and the Lie: Government, Economics, and the Stories We're Sold, due by year end.
My new series "Unfinished", a series about the Universal Bill of Human Rights is nearing publication
My "swan song" in cybersecurity. A triad of books on Zero Trust is in final editing.
Your Turn
Which of the seven questions is hardest for you to apply when the claim is one you like? Tell me in the comments. I'll tell you mine: number seven.
Author's Note
Fifteen posts in fifteen days has been one of the most demanding writing projects I have taken on, and I'm grateful you stayed with it. I have tried to separate what is documented, what is contested, and what is simply a value judgment, and to say so when I could not tell. Where I got something wrong, I hope you told me. Thank you for reading.
Cletus Taylor, keeping the coffee hot and the questions honest for tomorrow's conversation.
Companion Printable
It's a single landscape page with the checklist on the left and the master map on the right. I confirmed the page count and text, but I could not view the rendered image myself, so please open it and check the layout before you print.
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