GOP Law Blamed as Nearly 40% of Mail-In Ballots Rejected in Houston Area

[AZProgressive]

As early voting continues in Texas' primary election, pro-democracy advocates are sounding the alarm over the high rate at which mail-in ballots are being rejected as a result of the GOP's newly enacted voter suppression law.

Election officials in Harris County said they had returned almost 2,500 of the 6,548 mail-in ballots received as of Saturday due to cumbersome new ID rules—a rejection rate of nearly 38% in Texas' most populous county, a Democratic stronghold that includes Houston and more than 2.4 million voters.

Civil rights advocates have pointed to a record number of mail-in ballot rejections during the opening days of early voting in Texas' 2022 primaries as evidence of the effectiveness of the Republican Party's draconian voter suppression law, Senate Bill 1.

"Mail ballots are people's votes," Isabel Longoria, the Harris County elections administrator, told NPR on Tuesday. "So, I am very concerned—not just with the complexity of the process, but how that added complexity is going to increase the number of mail ballots that we have to reject."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/02/15/gop-law-blamed-nearly-40-mail-ballots-rejected-houston-area

[edhopper]

1. What good is GOTV

If they won't count the votes.

[Hoyt]

2. Voter education is the key.

[TheRealNorth]

3. Until they change the rules again....

[Hoyt]

4. They won't for this election. I refuse to believe Democrats can't handle

putting a Social Security number and/or driver’s license number on a ballot. Believe we are smarter than Texas GOPers.

[In It to Win It]

6. I agree. Their goal is to not to institute a mountainous roadblock, but a small and minute change

that people will likely miss and cause their ballot to be rejected; a small change that is so small that it makes Democrats look like they're overreacting.

[maxsolomon]

5. Here on the sane West Coast, all ballots are mail-in.

You sign it, provide a contact (phone or email), and stick it in a mailbox.

They have a record of your signature. If it doesn't match they may challenge you. If you forget to sign, they'll contact you.

This is not rocket surgery.

[crickets]

7. Seems to be turning exactly as planned. Ugh. nt

[iemanja]

8. That's why I've said Democrats need to pivot to encouraging in-person voting

I was criticized for it, but if your vote doesn't count, the inconvenience of mail in voting doesn't matter.