The Brief: Follow the 2016 elections with The Texas Tribune

Welcome to our special Election Day edition of The Brief. You can find links to all our planned up-to-the-minute coverage of the presidential race, statewide races and every other issue important to Texas voters below.

If you've been forwarded this email by a friend, be sure to sign up for The Brief here to get your daily dose of all the Texas news you need to start your morning.

The Big Story

As the election races are called, turn to the Tribune’s coverage, analysis and data tools to bring the most comprehensive election coverage straight to you. Here's what we have planned:

• Are you voting today? Read up on Texas’ new voter ID law, find out where to vote, and be sure to tell us if you have or see any problems at the polls by texting TEXAS VOTES to 69866 or tweeting #TexasVotes2016.

• Before the polls close, check out our comprehensive pre-election coverage, including early voting numbers in Texas, previews of hotly contested races and results from the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

• As election night gets underway, we'll be calling the winners in races as election results become available. Visit texastribune.org or follow @TexasTribune on Twitter for statewide coverage. Full results for presidential and down-ballot races will be available beginning at 6 p.m. on our  Election Scoreboard at texastribune.org/elections2016.

• This year, we'll also be hosting a Facebook Live Election Desk beginning at 6 p.m. Throughout the night, we’ll be tracking the latest Texas results in the presidential election, and Tribune reporters will be offering updates on other important races. Like us at fb.com/texastribune to join the livecast.

• And we'll have an Election Night Map live at texastribune.org to visualize how the presidential candidates are performing in Texas throughout the night.

• Then on Wednesday, tune in to — or attend — a live recording of our Post-Election TribCast at the Austin Club in downtown Austin. Doors open for coffee and networking at 7:30 a.m. and the conversation begins promptly at 8 a.m. The event will be livestreamed for those who can't attend in person. RSVP at texastribune.org/events.

Tribune Today

Now with more than 66,000 students, Texas A&M is getting crowded
Texas A&M's rapid enrollment growth is creating crowded classrooms, parking lots and dining halls, but school officials say they haven't diluted academics.

Five questions for Election Day 2016 in Texas
By Tuesday's end, Donald Trump's impact on Texas elections will be clear, and Republicans may have fewer elected officials to show for it.

Senate panel proposes $75.3 million to start fixing foster care system
A work group of the Texas Senate Finance Committee is willing to give foster care caseworkers $12,000 raises, but balked at hiring all the new workers Commissioner Hank Whitman requested.

After early voting glitches, officials hope new voter ID rules clear
As a busy Election Day looms, election officials and civil rights advocates hope Texas has ironed out most wrinkles in complying with a federal court order to fix its voter ID law. 

Early voting turnout surges in Collin County, but why?
Population growth is nothing new in suburbs north of Dallas, but not even that explains why so many people in affluent and rural Collin County are turning out in droves this year.

Obama administration sending election monitors to 3 Texas counties
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday it would be placing election monitors in Harris, Dallas and Waller counties for the general election. 

What We're Reading

(Links below lead to outside websites; content might be behind paywall)

Campaign finance experts question whether Dallas billionaire's pro-Trump super PAC violates law, The Dallas Morning News 

Ken Paxton warns election officials on poll watchers, Austin American-Statesman 

Officials on alert for Election Day terrorist activity, Houston Chronicle

Group of Baylor supporters demand change to regents, San Antonio Express-News

Greg Abbott boosts Texas GOP candidates hobbled by Trump, Austin American-Statesman 

Today in TribTalk

"Donald Trump's repeated exhortations that the system is 'rigged,' including his repeated warnings at rallies that 'we have to make sure that this election is not stolen from us,"' has set off alarm bells among political observers."

— Jim Henson and Joshua Blank, the Texas Politics Project

"Polling data suggest the attitudes sustaining Trump's candidacy in Texas will continue to play a role in GOP politics in Texas regardless of the future of the candidate himself."

— Jim Henson and Joshua Blank, the Texas Politics Project

Trib Events for the Calendar

•   Live Post-Election TribCast on Nov. 9 at The Austin Club 

•   A Conversation with state Reps. Andrew Murr and Jason Isaac on Nov. 14 at Schreiner University in Kerrville

•   A Symposium Previewing the 85th Legislature on Nov. 29 at The University of Texas - Texas Union Ballroom

•   A Conversation with Michael K. Young, President of Texas A&M University on Dec. 1 at The Austin Club

•   San Antonio & the Legislature: A Preview of the 85th on Dec. 2 at University of Texas at San Antonio – Downtown Campus