Fort Bend county rejecting 50 percent of mail-in ballot applications under new laws

[TexasTowelie]

The March primaries are right around the corner in Texas, and in Fort Bend County, election officials are rejecting an unprecedented number of mail-in ballot applications because of new state laws surrounding voting.

John Oldham, elections administrator for Fort Bend County, said last week that his staff is having to reject about 50 percent of all applications, when they typically rejected less than 5 percent in previous years.

Oldham declined to give specific numbers on how many ballots they’ve rejected.

“It is so important that everyone get a chance to exercise their constitutional right to vote,” County Judge KP George said at a hastily-assembled news conference last week featuring elected officials and election officials to discuss challenges brought on by new state laws.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1 into law in September- a voting bill that includes many new provisions for voting, including a requirement that absentee voters submit either the last four digits of their social security numbers or their Texas driver’s license numbers on their mail-in ballot applications, according to a Texas Tribune article.

Read more: https://www.fortbendstar.com/countynews/fort-bend-rejecting-50-percent-of-mail-in-ballot-applications-under-new-laws/article_03eccb64-7d33-11ec-8c33-7fc9129dc74d.html

[msongs]

1. so no driver license or SS and u cannot vote? gee who would impact most $$$ nt

[TexasTowelie]

3. Correction, you cannot vote absentee unless you provide the last four digits of your

Social Security number or Texas drivers license (and I assume Texas ID number for those without a drivers license) on the application form. Considering that information has to be provided to register to vote this shouldn't pose any difficulty for those applying for absentee ballots. The problem as expressed in the OP is that people are not indicating the last four digits of their identifying information when requesting the absentee ballot--that is more of a matter of educating the voters than anything else and I suspect that it impacts older voters who are not aware of the new requirements.

[msongs]

5. if ya cant vote without a DL or SS number your are being discriminated against nt

[TexasTowelie]

6. I agree with you in principle about voter id requirements,

particularly in some parts of west Texas where it may require a 60 or 70 mile trip to get to an office to have a state-issued id made can be a burden and deterrent to voting. As far as cost is concerned a drivers license is $25, a state-issued id is $16 for those 59 and younger, $6 for those 60 and older. I don't consider those costs a significant deterrent to voting considering that those forms of id last up to six years.

However, returning to the subject of the OP, supposedly the people that are applying for the absentee ballots are already registered voters so they previously met the id requirements. None of the applicants are required to provide those methods of identification when applying for the absentee ballots, just four digits which they previously provided to be registered. So for example if your personal belongings were lost or stolen it wouldn't necessarily prevent you from applying for the forms.

[sprinkleeninow]

2. That's brilliant, guvenor. Driver's license floating around. Ripe for ID theft.

[TexasTowelie]

4. No, the person applying for an absentee ballot only needs to provide the last four digits

of their drivers license (possibly Texas ID if someone doesn't have a drivers license) or Social Security number. That information is already provided by the voter when they register to vote so the county clerk compares the numbers on the registration form with that on the application for a ballot.

The actual drivers license/ID card/Social Security card remains in the possession of the voter.