Editorial: Hundreds of rejected ballots? Texas' new 'poll test' is working as predicted.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Thousands of vote by mail applications have been rejected due to voters not using the right number.

Link to tweet

There was a time in this country, before the Voting Rights Act, when Southern states used intentionally confusing literacy tests to keep Black people from voting.

These days in Texas, it’s a memory test.

A new Texas law, passed under the auspices of election “integrity” in pursuit of the phantom myth of voter fraud, puts up extra obstacles for people applying for a mail-in ballot. A new form requires that would-be voters provide either a partial Social Security number or a Texas driver license number. Seems simple enough but here’s the catch: the number provided has to be the same one the voter gave, possibly years or decades ago, when he or she registered to vote.

Try to use your Social Security number when you registered with your driver’s license number and sorry, Texans, your perfectly legitimate attempt to access your constitutional voting rights is denied. We have the Texas Legislature to thank for this ‘reform’ that’s causing headaches for elections officials across Texas as it ensnares hundreds of voters of all stripes whose number recall is less than perfect.

[LogicFirst]

1. AND on line 17, you have to include the original password you used

when you signed up for that obscure website you never use. 🤯🤯

[Hortensis]

2. Oh, wow. With advance warning we could find out an old DL#,

but a long-forgotten password with them in charge of records?

[Igel]

3. Here's the form.

Please, find line 17.

https://webservices.sos.state.tx.us/forms/5-15f.pdf

[Hortensis]

5. Can't. Thanks for your explanation below. TX's primary is March 1,

early voting begins Feb 14, so coming up fast.

[Igel]

4. They've been backfilling the voter registration files.

Going and finding the Texas DLs for people who registered with SSNs, for example.

You don't have to provide *the* same number. But you have to provide a number that matches information on file. Easy fix: Provide both. "Must provide either" does not mean "Provide only one."

Annoying and something that's easily fixed. "Provide both SSN and Texas DL if you have them; if you only have a SSN or Texas DL, provide that". Then those with both will be sure to provide one good number (unless the Texas DL's changed), those with only one will provide the one that they had.

Actually, the # can also include the voter ID #. That's for sure the safest path. If I were media, I'd be making sure that people knew *how* to ensure compliance.

There's also supposed to be a correction mechanism: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/01/13/texas-voting-mail-rejections/ .

Voters whose applications are rejected because of the ID requirements are supposed to have an opportunity to fix the issue. Building on Democratic proposals, the new voting law also created a new correction process for mail-in voting, including errors on applications. That process begins when county officials provide voters with a notice that their application was rejected and information on how to correct the defect, including through a new online ballot tracker.

A spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office said it would be providing “specific guidance to the counties in the near future to address any outstanding questions about this process.”

But the window for corrections is narrowing. County officials can receive applications to vote by mail until Feb. 18, but it takes time to process applications and prepare materials to inform voters of a rejection.

In other words, if they get your application on 2/18, they may not process it in time to notify you and get a correction by, um, Feb. 18.