Mail-in ballot applications REJECTED in TEXAS !

[soap box]

Of course they would reject it. They want less Americans voting by just a bit.

You just summed up my problem with this effort among republican legislatures. I would call it the hoops and hurdles strategy. No one can say they are denying the vote to Fred B . Smith, the invidual. But all of us here have one little hoop to jump through, and a little hurdle, and hoop and another hurdle, all of them small, but adding up to a bigger sacrifice than necessary.

For some folks it's complicated if they live in an institution or if they're homeless. I'm saying all this because I know a Fred B Smith.
BUT If my neighbor researched the candidates, looked up the polling station, drove there and only waited a half hour , he could vote in an hour, total time 1:00 , done for two years.

On the other side of the tracks it involves different transport for the kids, family, work schedules , calling in favors for one day every 2 years. One miss on any little part in the plan for election day means they are going to have to wait another 2 years to vote.

Confusion about an election keeps voters from showing up. I predict there will be more similar rejections for people who are trying to register later this year. I predict they will pull switcheroo tricks again like , in '20 November.

In other threads I have seen a few of our esteemed colleagues express that if a person is poor, it's their own fault. I disagree, but even if that were true, they still have the same right as the rest of the country. For many, they are exactly the people who are least able to overcome these little hoops and hurdles.

 

[soap box]

I wonder if Texas has actually promoted the new rules to the public and are they going to notify those whose applications were rejected so they can resubmit?

Under Texas’ new voting law, absentee voters must include their driver’s license number or state ID number or, if they don’t have one, the last four digits of their Social Security number on their applications. If they don’t have those IDs, voters can indicate they have not been issued that identification. Counties must match those numbers against the information in an individual’s voter file to approve them for a mail-in ballot.

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texa...-voting-rules/

At the moment I am writing this I can't tell if the officials have conducted the press conference they promised. It would have been today. They were supposed to answer all those questions , like what actions they intend to take to clarify everything.
Still I am sure people are going to make the same mistake later this year.

 

[MamboDervish]

The requirements are not new, they have been that way for decades.

I guess the headline of the OP article slid right by you, eh?

"Texas rejecting hundreds of mail-in ballot applications under NEW voting rules"​

 

[Nickyjo]

Texas rejecting hundreds of mail-in ballot applications under new voting rules

Election officials in some of the state’s largest counties are rejecting an alarming number of mail-in applications because they don’t meet the state’s new identification requirements. Some applica…

www.kxan.com

AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) —" Hundreds of Texans seeking to vote by mail in the upcoming March primary elections are seeing their applications for ballots rejected by local election offices trying to comply with stricter voting rules enacted by Texas Republicans last year.

Election officials in some of the state’s largest counties are rejecting an alarming number of mail-in applications because they don’t meet the state’s new identification requirements. Some applications are being rejected because of a mismatch between the new identification requirements and the data the state has on file to verify voters."

THe details can be found in the article, half the applicatios for ballots had a different ID number than what was stored in official county records. Please recall, mail in ballots can be requested in Texas, only for seniors, diabled folks and folks who can prove they won't be in the county during the election days. So we are not talking about college kids in Austin, or work-a-day typical people, the folks making these requests are preparing for the March 1 primary, so time might be limited .

"Under Texas’ new voting law, absentee voters must include their driver’s license number or state ID number or, if they don’t have one, the last four digits of their Social Security number on their applications. If they don’t have those IDs, voters can indicate they have not been issued that identification. Counties must match those numbers against the information in an individual’s voter file to approve them for a mail-in ballot."

Here's a summary from August of the parts of the law, I believe all these points made it into the final law.

The hard-fought Texas voting bill is poised to become law. Here's what it does.

Senate Bill 1 would set new rules for voting by mail, boost protections for partisan poll watchers and roll back local voting initiatives meant to make it easier to vote, namely those championed by Harris County that were disproportionately used by voters of color.

www.texastribune.org

The problem is that for other texans who are not seniors or disabled, won't the same thing happen when they try to register? The point is that if this is a problem for a predominantly white county, among seniors and disabled folks,
can we expect to see more preelection confusion from the Great State of Texas this November?

OR , is this evidence that half the county is trying to vote illegally?

OR is this an example that the NEW Voter Integrity law working in Texas?

Well at least Texas didn’t allow people from out of state to sue voters and those who drive them to the polls. There’s that.

 

[soap box]

And it has existed in Washington state for several decades. so what?

The ' so what' is that it has been working in CO and WA so well for so long that no one realized how quietly it worked that well until HE came along.

 

[BlueTex]

Well at least Texas didn’t allow people from out of state to sue voters and those who drive them to the polls. There’s that.

The people that do that kind of stuff LIVE in Texas..

True the Vote - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[soap box]

Well at least Texas didn’t allow people from out of state to sue voters and those who drive them to the polls. There’s that.

That's the funniest thing I've heard all day and the saddest thing ! ! Oh man - post of the month!

 

[Nickyjo]

That's the funniest thing I've heard all day and the saddest thing ! ! Oh man - post of the month!

Thanks for your comment.

 

[soap box]

The people that do that kind of stuff LIVE in Texas..

True the Vote - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That explains a whole lot, ugh

 

[Luce]

The people that do that kind of stuff LIVE in Texas..

True the Vote - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This is exactly why it's always okay to interfere with Texas's internal matters.

 

[longview]

Easier. That's why all those applications are being rejected?

The applications are for people wanting to vote by mail, something maybe only 1% qualify for and request. That interviewed the county election officials who rejected the applications in Harris County, she is a democrat, and said the applications that were rejected were because they were incomplete or the information did not match!

 

[longview]

I guess the headline of the OP article slid right by you, eh?

"Texas rejecting hundreds of mail-in ballot applications under NEW voting rules"​

A democrat official rejected 16% of the applications received because they were incomplete, and would have been rejected under the old rules as well!

 

[longview]

The ' so what' is that it has been working in CO and WA so well for so long that no one realized how quietly it worked that well until HE came along.

Each state get to choose how they conduct elections, Texas has choosing to do mostly in person voting, with narrow exemptions.

 

[nota bene]

Harris county (mine) is not a republican county, yet the hours are expanding here as well.
P.S. all the large counties 100,000 or more are mostly democrat.

Mine is an exception. While 41.4% voted Democrat in the last Presidential election, 55.7% voted Republican with 2.9 voting Independent.

 

[soap box]

The applications are for people wanting to vote by mail, something maybe only 1% qualify for and request. That interviewed the county election officials who rejected the applications in Harris County, she is a democrat, and said the applications that were rejected were because they were incomplete or the information did not match!

Wanting to vote by mail includes seniors, and that's more than 1 % , was that a typo?

 

[Gateman_Wen]

The applications are for people wanting to vote by mail, something maybe only 1% qualify for and request. That interviewed the county election officials who rejected the applications in Harris County, she is a democrat, and said the applications that were rejected were because they were incomplete or the information did not match!

So that's "easier"?

 

[rickc]

It is going to be interesting how all this works out.

Republicans are determined to keep their control whatever it takes.

The democrats just want free and fair elections that include everyone equally. Unfortunately to pass the federal election reform protecting the right to vote in the senate seems impossible. Republicans will filibuster the bills. Takes 60 votes to break a filibuster and no Republicans will cross over for fear of Trump's wrath. 2 democrats refuse to change filibuster rules. So the bills are dead in the senate.

That leaves Republican state legislatures free to do as they want. Basically they can ignore the votes and pick whoever they want as the winner.

 

[soap box]

This is exactly why it's always okay to interfere with Texas's internal matters.

Ok well maybe not always okay ,

in Texas you must wear a seatbelt in your car even as a passenger.

But you can ride a motorcycle anywhere with NO helmet !

Am I Right @BlueTex ?

 

[Luce]

Ok well maybe not always okay ,

in Texas you must wear a seatbelt in your car even as a passenger.

But you can ride a motorcycle anywhere with NO helmet !

Am I Right @BlueTex ?

Well, they thought it was okay to interfere in Wisconsin.

 

[soap box]

Each state get to choose how they conduct elections, Texas has choosing to do mostly in person voting, with narrow exemptions.

That doesn't mean a state makes a good choice.

 

[longview]

Wanting to vote by mail includes seniors, and that's more than 1 % , was that a typo?

It could be a higher percentage, but many seniors choose to vote in person, even though they could vote by mail.
I looked it up, normally about 7% of people who can, vote by mail, it increased to 11% in 2020.

 

[longview]

So that's "easier"?

For the vote by mail, it is much the same, for in person voting, more counties have expanded early voting hours, so yes easier.
If before, in Counties between 55,000 and 100,000 population, they had very limited early voting hours,
now those counties will have to comply to 12 hours a day of early voting hours.
(I think the 12 hour window can be between 7:00am and 10:00 pm.)

 

[rahl]

Illegal aliens only have fake SS numbers. Joe is disappoint.

where is fake SS#s a problem in voting?

 

[longview]

That doesn't mean a state makes a good choice.

Would you violate the constitution, and deny a State the right to choose what works best for them.

 

[rickc]

I believe if you live in a blue state with a democratic legislature you are safe voting by mail.

I live in Florida. Voted by mail last time. You could track your vote up to the point it was accepted online.

Next election no way I would want to vote absentee. The republican legislature is going to pull out all the stops to disqualify votes. I will vote in person. Wish I could track that vote online just to see if those crooked Republicans disqualify it.

The next American election will be interesting to watch. What shenanigans will the republicans pull.