Texas County Reports Half of Ballot Applications Have Been Rejected Since Controversial Voting Law Enacted
Kipp Jones
A Texas County clerk’s office has reported that roughly half of all mail-in ballot applications filed since the state passed a voting reform law last year have been rejected.© Provided by MediaiteTexas Governor Greg Abbott
Senate Bill 1 was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) last September. The law placed a significant emphasis proof of identification with regard to mail-in voting and absentee applications.
S.B.1 also prevents counties from sending out mail-in ballot applications to those who have not specifically requested them. The law further asks people who intend to vote by mail to provide either a driver’s license number of the last four digits of their Social Security number.
According to KUT-FM in Austin, half of vote-by-mail applications in Travis County are being rejected due to the new requirements.
The outlet reported the Travis County Clerk’s office said that as of Thursday it “has rejected about fifty percent of applications for ballot by mail that have been received for the March 1, 2022 primary election.”
Travis County added, “Many other counties are experiencing the same high rejection rate.”
Since the new absentee ballot ID requirements were enacted, 42 of 80 mail applications have been rejected in Travis County.
Democratic lawmakers in the state left Texas last August in an attempt to prevent the law from going into effect.
The Texas Tribune reported:
At least 51 of the 67 Democratic members of the Texas House — the number needed to break quorum — fled the state on Monday, most of them boarding two chartered planes that landed in D.C. around 7 p.m. Central time.
The efforts of Democrats ultimately failed, as did a number of lawsuits which chained S.B. 1.
“One thing that all Texans can agree [on] and that is that we must have trust and confidence in our elections,” Abbott said as he signed the bill. “The bill that I’m about to sign helps to achieve that goal. The law does, however, make it harder for fraudulent votes to be cast.”
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