Texas Democrats and civil rights advocates warned that sweeping voter restrictions approved by the Republican-controlled legislature last year would disenfranchise voters. Sadly, the predictions are coming true.
Nearly 25,000 mail-in ballots cast in the March 1 primary elections — more than 12% of the total ballots mailed — were rejected because voters of both parties struggled to comply with confusing new rules for voting by mail. Texas Republicans sold this and other overzealous voting restrictions in the name of “election security,” based on the falsehood that voter fraud is rampant. Let’s be clear: The evidence proves it is not.
The new mail-in ballot restrictions are creating roadblocks for law-biding voters who simply want to participate in our democracy. In Travis County, election officials were forced to toss more than 1,000 mail-in ballots in the March primary. In Houston-based Harris County, a heavily Democratic area the GOP targeted with restrictions in their 2021 law, Black areas were 44% more likely to have ballots rejected than white areas, according to a New York Times analysis. This tracks with accusations that the GOP’s intent was to make it harder for people of color, many of whom support Democrats, to vote.
The 12% statewide rejection rate is appallingly high — at least 10 percentage points higher than comparable figures for the 2018 and 2020 midterm and presidential elections. Even some Republicans concede the new mail-in ballot rules are confusing and complicated.
State leaders should address this erosion of trust in the Texas electoral system immediately.
If Gov. Greg Abbott and the state legislature want to ensure that every vote counts in Texas, they should convene a special session and repeal the new mail-in ballot requirements before the November general election. If they won’t, Abbott should authorize spending — in addition to money already in the Secretary of State’s budget — to educate voters on how to comply with the mail-in ballot requirements. And the state should get creative with its messaging, using social media, text messages, and other tools to reach the most voters possible.
In the meantime, important runoff elections – including in the Texas attorney general and railroad commission races — are looming next month. The registration deadline for early voting in the runoffs is Monday. Applications to vote by mail must be received (not just postmarked) by Tuesday.
The new election law requires mail-in voters to include their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number under the flap of the envelope that contains their ballot. That number must match the number on the voter’s registration record. If an individual registers to vote using one form of ID and applies for a mail-in ballot using the other number, the application must be rejected.
All this confusion doesn’t instill confidence in Texas elections, as Republicans promised. It erodes it. Abbott blamed hard-working local election officials for misinterpreting the new law and rejecting more ballots than necessary. But the blame for this fiasco lies squarely with him and Republicans in the legislature who passed voting restrictions that weren’t necessary in the first place.
Abbott and the state legislature should fix their mail-in ballot crisis in Texas immediately, and restore confidence in this cherished hallmark of our democracy — voting.
Austin American-Statesman
