AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Some early Texas voters in the nation’s first primary are seeing their mail-in ballots rejected for leaving off newly required information following a GOP-led overhaul of the state’s already strict election code.
Election officials in Harris County – a Democratic stronghold that includes Houston and more than 2.4 million voters – said Thursday that in the the first batch of mail-in ballots they have received, about 40% could not be counted because of missing information or signatures required under Texas’ sweeping new law passed in August.
Most of the more than 1,300 ballots flagged were missing mandatory identification such as voter ID or Social Security numbers, and a handful were missing a signature, according to Leah Shah, a spokesperson for the Harris County Elections Administrator’s office.
The new law requires that counties notify voters if their mail ballot is rejected, and voters can get another chance to correct it as long as it is received by Election Day, March 1 in this case.
“As we get closer to the deadline to return mail ballots, we just want to make sure that everyone understands that these new requirements to include identification are important,” Shah said. “Take a close look at the envelope and make sure you are filling them out, and when in doubt fill them both out or give us a call so we can help walk them through. It is confusing and challenging, and we are here to help.”